Yeah, she violated a court order, but so what? She's a mother protecting her child.
That's the view, at least, of Mindy McCready, who in a sit-down with ABC News staunchly defended her decision to remove her 5-year-old son, Zander, from the Cape Coral, Fla., home of the country singer's maternal grandmother—who is his official guardian—which prompted a judge's order for their return.
An emotional McCready claims U.S. Marshals subsequently showed up with guns drawn and stormed the Arkansas lakehouse where they were holed up, terrifying Zander as they took him from her.
"[Zander] was screaming. 'Please don't touch me. Please don't touch me. Please don't touch my mommy. Please leave me alone. I wanna be with my mommy,' " she recounted.
There's some dispute as to whether federal agents found them hiding in a closet—a claim by U.S. Marshals that McCready subsequently denied.
E! News spoke with David Rahbany, Chief Deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service in the Eastern District of Arkansas, who declined to discuss the matter further, citing a gag order imposed by a juvenile court judge at a custody hearing on Monday.
However, Rahbany previously confirmed to ABC News that "there was no forced entry made" and "no battering ram."
He also added that officers conformed to department policy and were accompanied by a social worker, casting doubt on the former Celebrity Rehab patient's version of events.
The boy has since been placed in foster care until a court can settle the matter of custody, which the 36-year-old crooner lost in 2007 due to a probation violation stemming from a drug-related charge.
Earlier this week, McCready attended the closed-door court session and afterward declared she was a "happy girl" and pleased with the judge's ruling.
When asked if she broke the law, the entertainer was adamant she did nothing wrong, telling ABC News she has no regrets about taking Zander from her mother, Gayle Inge's, charge.
"I do not to this moment and will not ever think that me taking my own child that I carried for nine months that I gave birth to in the hospital by myself would ever be breaking the law," she said. "And what I did was to protect my child, and there's not a person in the world that's ever gonna tell me that it's wrong."
McCready also divulges in the interview some dark family secrets that reporter Andrea Canning called "shocking," and which the former Celebrity Rehab patient said prompted her to abscond with the boy to protect him from physical and emotional danger.
"I know there are rules that are written down that we're supposed to follow and guidelines that we're supposed to follow, but there's a difference between right and wrong, and right and wrong in my opinion should come first, always," argued McCready.
The full interview with the country star airs tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on 20/20.