Posted on 04/19/2007 3:34:30 PM PDT by SmithL
SELMER, Tenn. — After a day of deliberation a jury found Mary Winkler guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the March 2006 killing of her minister husband, Matthew.
The judge said he will return "very soon" to give further instructions. Winkler, a Knoxville native, faced up to 60 years in prison for first-degree murder.
Winkler testified Wednesday that her husband had abused her physically and sexually, but she said the shotgun went off accidentally as she pointed it at him. She said she had just wanted to talk to him.
The prosecution called the notion of an accidental shooting "ludicrous" and urged the jury to find her guilty of first-degree murder. Deliberations began Thursday morning after six days of testimony.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Winkler, 33, could be sentenced to 60 years in prison, but the jury could decide to convict her of a lesser charge.
Defense attorney Steve Farese said in his closing argument that the prosecution "absolutely, positively" did not prove Winkler intended to kill Matthew Winkler — something required for a conviction of first-degree murder. But Farese left open the possibility that she could have been guilty of a lesser crime.
"Have they proven any crime? Well — and this is hard for me to say — maybe," Farese said. "Maybe she was negligent."
Mary Winkler testified that she just wanted to talk to her 31-year-old husband when she went into their bedroom that day in March 2006, but that she was too terrified. "He just could be so mean," she said.
Winkler said her husband had punched her in the face, kicked her at times, refused to grant her a divorce and forced her to perform sex acts she thought were unnatural. Shortly before the shooting, she said, he held his hand over their 1-year-old daughter's mouth and nose to make her be quiet.
But Winkler also said under cross-examination that her husband did "nothing" for which he deserved to die.
Mary Winkler's depiction of her marriage was at odds with the description by the prosecution, whose witnesses described Matthew Winkler as a good father and husband. The couple's 9-year-old daughter, Patricia, testified that she never saw him mistreat her mother.
A day after Matthew Winkler was fatally shot in his back, his wife was arrested 340 miles away on the Alabama coast, driving the family minivan with their three young daughters.
Mary Winkler said she planned to return to Selmer but wanted time alone with her daughters. She also said she still loved her husband.
A psychologist testified that Mary Winkler could not have formed the intent to commit a crime because of her compromised mental condition. She suffered from mild depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which started at age 13 when her sister died and worsened as she endured her husband's abuse, Dr. Lynne Zager said.
Mary Winkler said she remembered holding the gun that day but not getting it from the closet. She said she heard a "boom," but said she did not pull the trigger, prompting prosecutor Walt Freeland to ask whether she understood how a trigger worked.
"You know that pulling a trigger is what makes it go boom?" Freeland asked.
"Yes, sir," Mary Winkler replied.
The prosecution said in closing arguments that there was no medical evidence of abuse. Mary Winkler had testified that she was too ashamed to tell anyone. The two had met at Freed-Hardeman University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Henderson where Matthew's father was an adjunct professor and Mary took education classes.
Farese, the defense attorney, said: "If you look up spousal abuse in the dictionary, you're going to see Mary Winkler's picture looking back at you."
Disgusting. Her husband caught her kiting checks and she shot him in the back, unplugged the phone and left him to die. His last words to her were “why?” I am so angry, this is such a travesty.
“but she said the shotgun went off accidentally as she pointed it at him”
I love it when people say that.
In all the years I have handled and shot various firearms, I have yet to have one just “go off” accidentally.
I guess we are to believe that she just took the shotgun with her to have a little face to face chat with her husband.
Oops! Make that that a face to back chat.
SELMER, Tenn. – If the jury in the Mary Winkler murder trial finds her guilty of an offense less than first or second-degree murder, she will receive a relatively short sentence and perhaps not serve any time at all.
Mary Winkler, 33, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 22, 2006, shotgun slaying of Matthew, her husband and the former preacher at Fourth Street Church of Christ here.
But the jury, consisting of 10 women and two men, has the option of finding her guilty of a lesser charge or not guilty of all possible charges. If found guilty of first-degree murder, she automatically would receive a life sentence and would not be eligible for parole for 51 years.
A second-degree murder conviction would carry a sentence of 15 to 25 years and Judge Weber McCraw would sentence her later at a special hearing. She would be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of her sentence.
A conviction for voluntary manslaughter carries a sentence range of 3 to 6 years, but that sentence would not have to include imprisonment. If convicted of reckless homicide, the sentence range is 2 to 4 years – again, jail time is not mandatory. Criminally negligent homicide has a sentence range of 1 to 2 years and does not mandate jail time either. If she did serve jail time with and of these charges, she would be eligible for parole after 30 percent of the sentence was served.
Defense attorney Leslie Ballin described the jury’s role as the "hardest job in the world," adding, "The correct decision is whatever they say it is."
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5493287,00.html
To say we are not to judge the criminal behavior of others is to allow evil to consume and rule the world.
What happened to the allegations that she was involved in a check-kiting scheme to pay for a Nigerian money scam and was afraid to tell her husband?
How much time does she have to serve for voluntary manslaughter? I absolutely do not believe that he raped her at the point of a shotgun. He wouldn’t need to — he was so much bigger than she.
I certainly hope they do not grant her custody of those children — EVER.
She will probably do 1-2 years. Then she will get a book/movie deal and make the circuit of womens' talk shows as the poster child for what a proactive abused female should do.
There are new standards in American law now. White males aren't worth the price of justice, babies aren't even worth giving birth to, women are standing on pedestals and can do no evil, blacks have reached the legal status of 'untouchable species', and illegal aliens are more important to our government than its citizens are. Get used to it, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
She’s a murderer, and based on the facts about her husband, she is a filthy liar as well.
Oh, no, it says in the article that people were mean to her, so it wouldn't be right to judge her. Now she needs to make a video about her feelings and let NBC play it nonstop so we can all feel bad too.
I thought of him too.
“Mary has the best laywer’s that money can buy in this part of the world.”
I saw just a small part of the trial on TV, but thought at the time her lawyer was not very good.
According to the verdict, though, looks like the prosecution did even worse and failed to prove first degree murder.
BTW, the people in Selmer have been very supportive of Mary.
He’s dead. Who will contest her version of events? Their nine year old daughter tried, but was apparently disbelieved.
Welcome to the feminist world order.
1. The man is a pig and deserves to be murdered.
2. In any case where the man is not a pig and does not deserve to be murdered, refer to rule # 1.
I thought this was about the Fonz.
Just read on an ‘06 Winkler thread that she had been on medications for some time.
Guess that’s why the jury didn’t decide for first degree? She was not on her meds apparently when the shooting happened...
Pity this brave, sweet little soul when momma is let loose soon enough to teach her daughter a lesson about "lying".
Funny you posted that picture. That was the first person I thought of when I saw the title. I thought, “Henry Winkler and voluntary manslaughter? That was unexpected.”
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