Posted on 08/22/2007 7:43:46 AM PDT by SmithL
McMINNVILLE, Tenn. — The wife of a West Tennessee minister convicted in his death still professes her love for him, a friend says.
Mary Winkler, 33, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting of her husband, Matthew, at the Selmer parsonage where the couple lived with their three young daughters. He was shot in the back as he slept.
She was given a three-year sentence on June 8, but was required to serve only 67 days in custody because of credit for time in jail before her trial, the nature of the offense and no previous criminal record.
She is now living at the home of Rudie Thomsen and his wife while she works at a dry cleaners.
“She loves Matthew,” Thomsen told WTVF-TV of Nashville in an interview broadcast Tuesday. “There are pictures of him in the bedroom at the house.”
In pictures taken with the Thomsens, Mary Winkler still wears her wedding band.
“Since she’s gotten back home, (she’s) the Mary that we came to know and love -- the grinning, the cutting up,” Thomsen said. “She’s back.”
He said it’s nice to see Winkler smile and it’s something his family sees everyday.
“Mary needed a place to come to heal, to have a job on probation,” he said. “We supplied that. That’s all we’ve done.”
Thomsen said Winkler is adjusting to her new life.
“She’s on a road. She’s on her way. She’s gonna make it.”
Thomsen said Winkler regrets shooting her husband.
“Mary said to a friend of ours, had she been found not guilty, that would have been wrong because she did wrong. She did something wrong so she had to serve something,” Thomsen said.
Winkler had been charged with first-degree murder, but jurors convicted her of the lesser charge after she testified that her husband hit and kicked her, emotionally abused her, forced her to look at pornography and demanded sex she considered unnatural.
A psychologist testified Winkler suffered from mild depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She received mental health treatment before her release.
Winkler lived and worked in McMinnville for eight months while she was free on bond before her trial.
Additionally, the Winklers lived in McMinnville, where Matthew was a church youth group director, before he took the minister’s job at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer.
Mary Winkler is in a custody fight with her husband’s parents over her three daughters.
I’m glad that she never loved me.
He’s now a very quiet man, keeps to himself, we don’t argue, or disagree on anything. We take seperate vacations, he quit smoking cigars in the house and I never see his clothes all over the house. Yes I am more in love with him now than ever before.
Zero.
Amount of corroborating evidence of Matt Winkler's supposed "abuse", period?
Zero.
Collective IQ of the jury?:
The sum of the previous two.
Hmmm...I detect another uplifting Lifetime movie of the week in the making...
High-Heel SneakersPut on your red dress baby,
'Cause we're going out to night.
Put on your red dress baby,
'Cause we're going out to night.
You better wear some boxing gloves
In case a fool might wanna fight.Put on your high-heel sneakers,
Wear your wig hat on your head.
Put on your high-heel sneakers,
Wear your wig hat on your head.
I'm pretty sure now baby
'Cause you know, you're gonna knock 'em dead.Put on your high-heel sneakers,
Wear your wig hat on your head.
Put on your high-heel sneakers,
Wear your wig hat on your head.
Well I'm pretty sure now darling
'Cause you know you're gonna knock 'em dead.
“Collective IQ of the jury?:”
Heh, a 10 woman, 2 man jury is not “stacked” in a case like this?
Her own daughter testified that the father never laid a hand on Winkler. She got away with cold-blooded murder of a man because some women thought it was OK.
Who is playing the evil husband?
A jury of women tutored by Oprah, no doubt.
Seriously frightening.
She can say anything she wants to. She can’t be tried on the same charges so she’s home free. Double jeapordy, you know.
Now, civils suits, that’s another matter.
She got away with cold-blooded murder plain and simple.
NOT!
Ah, I'm so happy for her. </sarcasm>
Alec Baldwin.
Type casting
Exception. As I understand it, federal charges of “denying civil rights” or some such could theoretically be filed, as they were in the cop beating/riot case in CA. (The name of the perp slips my mind.)
Of course, as a member of a “minority group” herself, charges would never be filed against this woman. Such charges are officially reserved for cases where white males are acquitted in state court.
“I’m glad that she never loved me.”
LOL
Chance of a wife-killing husband receiving a similar pass, regardless of what he testifies occurred in their marriage.
Zero.
I have always found it bizarre that testimony of the “perp” or “victim” is accepted as evidence. What this turns the case into is a question of who tells their story better, with no correlation to the truth at all.
We’ve all known people who could tell a lie more believably than others we’ve known could tell the truth.
And now she has gone to the Tennessee Supreme Court trying to get custody of the kids.
“What this turns the case into is a question of who tells their story better, with no correlation to the truth at all.”
Rule number 1:
Dead men tell no tales. Murder a man in his bed, and trash his name after his death without one shred of supporting evidence. If you are a woman you are scot-free.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.