Posted on 08/16/2007 9:40:18 AM PDT by PercivalWalks
Murderess Mary Winkler--who shot her husband in the back and then refused to aid him or call 911 as he slowly bled to death for 20 minutes--walked away a free woman this week after serving a farcically brief "sentence" for her crimes.
Winkler scammed the court with uncorroborated claims that Matthew (pictured with his wife and three daughters) abused her. According to the testimony from Matthew Winkler's nine-year-old daughter, Patricia, the dead father--who as he lay dying looked at his wife and asked "why?"--was a good man and did not abuse her mother.
Winkler at first claimed the shooting was an accident and that she panicked, but after her arrest, she switched to the "abused woman" defense that killer women employ so effectively. There was no evidence or corroboration of her abuse claims, but the jury found her guilty of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter. After her conviction, she served a mere week in prison, then two months in a mental health facility. She will serve three years of probation.
According to CNN, before Mary Winkler killed her husband Matthew she "told Tennessee authorities about losing $17,000 in what investigators have described as a 'Nigerian 419' check-kiting scam." Matthew was unaware of it, and the day he was killed they had an appointment with one of the banks. At this meeting Matthew would have been made aware of her actions. Mary was nervous about being discovered, and chose to murder her husband instead.
During the trial, Mary threw trash on the dead man, who was unable to defend himself. She now plans to fight for custody of their three children, who have been living with Matthew Winkler's parents. Matthew's parents have filed court papers seeking to terminate her parental rights. As outrageous as it is, I think Winkler could get custody--murderess Clara Harris did (see my column Convicted Murderess Can Get Custody but Decent Fathers Can't, Houston Chronicle, 9/19/03) [http://www.glennsacks.com/convicted_murderers_can.htm].
The CNN article on the case is below.
Wife who killed preacher set free 8/14/07
(CNN) -- After spending a total of seven months in custody, the Tennessee woman who fatally shot her preacher husband in the back was released on Tuesday, her lawyer told CNN.
Mary Winkler, a 33-year-old mother of three girls, was freed from a Tennessee mental health facility where she was treated for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, lawyer Steve Farese said. "She is out," Farese said.
Farese said his client will not talk to the news media because she continues to wage a legal battle to win custody of her girls and faces a $2 million civil suit filed by the parents of her slain husband, Matthew Winkler.
Except for her oldest daughter's brief testimony at her trial, Winkler hasn't seen her children in a year, the lawyer said.
Winkler will return to work at the dry cleaners in McMinnville, Tennessee, where she worked before the trial, Farese said. She is living with friends. Winkler served about five months in county jail as she awaited trial, then spent two months undergoing therapy at the mental health facility following her conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
Winkler never denied shooting her husband, Matthew, the popular new preacher at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, a town of 4,500 people about 80 miles east of Memphis.
On March 22, 2006, church elders found his body -- with a shotgun wound to the back -- in the bedroom of the parsonage after he failed to show up for an evening service. His wife was arrested the next day with the couple's three young daughters in Orange Beach, Alabama, on the Gulf coast.
Mary Winkler was charged with murder, which could have sent her to prison for up to 60 years, but a jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter following an emotional trial in which she testified about suffering years of verbal and physical abuse.
In a statement to police after her arrest, Winkler said she didn't recall pulling the trigger .She said she apologized and wiped the blood that bubbled from her dying husband's lips as he asked, "Why?" Prosecutors and Matthew Winkler's family members said he was a good husband and father.
But on the stand, Mary Winkler described a hellish 10-year marriage during which, she said, her husband struck her, screamed at her, criticized her and blamed her when things went wrong. She said he made her watch pornography and wear "slutty" costumes for sex, and that he forced her to submit to sex acts that made her uncomfortable.
She testified she pointed the shotgun at her husband during an argument to force him to talk through their problems, and "something went off."
A defense psychologist testified that she was depressed and showed classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mary Winkler initially received a three-year sentence in June. But Circuit Court Judge J. Weber McCraw required that she serve only 210 days, and allowed her to serve the rest of the time on probation.
She also received credit for five months she spent behind bars awaiting trial, which left only about 60 days to her sentence. McCraw ruled she could serve the time in a mental health facility.
Since Mary Winkler's arrest, the couple's three children have been cared for by Matthew Winkler's parents, who have filed court papers seeking to terminate her parental rights.
www.GlennSacks.com, Glenn Sacks
It is said that the defendant...in court...when asked to provide examples of abuse, picked up a pair of high heels and claimed her late MURDERED husband asked her to wear them when they were intimate.
So guys....you can no longer ask your wife or girlfriends to wear those CFM pumps. You could be giving them a reason to shoot you dead in the back with a shotgun while you're sleeping.
ROFL!
The grandparents should sue her immediately in civil court for wrongful death. Testimony in that trial could then be used in the custody case.
It’s horrible to contemplate that this murderer could regain custody of the children.
When she murdered him and the cops tracked her down and brought her back home to face justice, her husband's congregation embraced her with open arms, contributed to her bail and made public statements of support for her.
This simpering behavior was trumpeted in the headlines and clearly poisoned the jury pool.
“Twas shoety killed the beast!”
...ZACTLY!!!
ROFL!
Hahaha!
She’s full o crap! I can’t believe the jury bought the stripper shoe story and she’s out walking around now!!!
Yeah, but what shoes is she wearing?
This has certainly been a lesson to me, and I am now more careful what I ask Mrs. Tell to wear during playtime.
Seriously, this is a tremendous travesty of justice. The prosecutor was way out-matched. She got away with murder. She should be eaten up with guilt, but she is probably very happy, for now. Given her history, she is not through with the criminal justice system, however. I give her two years before she's busted for some scam, maybe something worse.
And there's always eternal justice waiting for her.
Exactly! Hope it’s nice and hot in eternal HELL! heehee
The Grandparents should hire bodyguards. I don’t trust this person. God Help them all.
Was the defense able to provide any evidence of this? Tapes? DVD's, Images on their computer? The "slutty" costumes?
I think the jury was scammed.
Winkler goes free in less than 70 days after murdering her husband because he wanted her to wear some sexy underware. Why would women want to pass the ERA and lower themselves to the place that men have in our society and legal system?
Michael Vick’s two co-defendants were facing 5 years in prison and hefty fines for participating in dog fighting. I wonder how long our young men are going to be willing to put their lives on the line to defend a society that values them less than dogs.
I get the feeling that she’ll probably get married to the first assh*le that she meets, who will turn out to be an actual abusive stepfather to her 3 daughters...
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