Mary Winkler

File:MaryWinkler mugshot.jpg

Mary Winkler - March 2006

Mary Carol Winkler (born December 10,1973) was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband, Matthew Winkler, the pulpit minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in the small town of Selmer, Tennessee. She gained national attention due to public speculation about her motives and mental health, her brief flight from the state, and again for the brief length of her jail sentence. The continuing family drama still appears in the national media frequently.

Timeline

• 1992: Graduated from South-Doyle High School, part of the Knoxville public school system.
• April 20, 1996: she Married Matthew Winkler, and had three daughters.
• Early spring 2006: Part-time student at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, the same institution from which her husband graduated with a degree in Bible Studies. She was working toward a Bachelor's degree in Education.
• March 22, 2006: Shot her husband and fled south with the kids.
• March 23, 2006: Arrested and remanded.
• August 15, 2006: Released on bond.
• April 19, 2007: Found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
• August 14, 2007: Released after spending a total of seven months in custody: five months in a county jail and two months in a mental health facility.
• September 12, 2007: Interviewed with American TV talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey.
• September 19, 2007: Won right to supervised visitation with her three daughters. [1]
• May 16, 2008: Returned to court to fight for custody of her daughters. The full custody hearing is expected to take place this summer. [2] [3]
• August 04, 2008: A lawyer for Mary Winkler says the woman convicted in the shooting death of her pastor husband in Tennessee has taken custody of her three daughters. [4]

Criminal case

Former Winkler residence in Selmer, Tennessee

According to police, Mary Winkler confessed to the March 22, 2006 fatal shooting of her husband, whose body was discovered in their home on Mollie Dr by church members after he missed that night's services. He had been shot in the back with a 12 gauge shotgun.

The couple had been married since 1996 and -- according to many friends and church members -- were seemingly the perfect family. However, one neighborhood family reported that Matthew Winkler had repeatedly threatened to shoot that family's dog after it strayed onto the Winklers' lawn. Also, other friends, as well as Mary Winkler's family, allege that Matthew Winkler was abusive to Mary Winkler . Mary Winkler maintains that this is the reason for the shooting.

After police issued an Amber Alert due to fears of kidnapping, Mary Winkler and the children (Patricia, 8; Mary Alice, 6; Breanna, 1) were discovered in Orange Beach, Alabama. Winkler was placed into custody there and later extradited to Tennessee to stand trial. When asked by investigators about what had happened to her husband, Winkler stated that she and her husband had argued about money and offered "I guess that's when my ugly came out." http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/18/winkler.testimony/index.html

A grand jury decided to indict Mary Winkler on Monday, June 12, 2006, accusing her of first-degree murder.

Bond hearing

On Friday, June 30, 2006, Mary Winkler's bond hearing was held. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent read a statement Winkler gave to authorities in Alabama, where she was arrested a day after her husband's body was found. In it, Winkler says she did not remember getting the gun but she did know her husband kept a shotgun in their home. The next thing she heard was a loud boom. Matthew Winkler was shot in the back as he lay in bed. He rolled from the bed onto the floor, and, still alive, he asked his wife, "Why?" to which she responded, "I'm sorry." When she left the home, Matthew Winkler was still alive in the bedroom, and the phone had been disconnected from its socket

According to the statement, she and her husband had been arguing throughout the evening about many things, including family finances. She admitted some of the problems were "her fault."

Mary Winkler had lost money in what her lawyer said was a scam. She had deposited checks that came from "unidentified sources" in Canada and Nigeria into bank accounts belonging to her and her husband. The checks amounted to over $17,000.. Winkler had become caught up in a swindle known as the "Nigerian scam," which promises riches to victims who send money to cover the processing expenses.[http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/ap/0407/1601_mary_winkler2.html

Furthermore, she said, "He had really been on me lately criticizing me for things — the way I walk, I eat, everything. It was just building up to a point. I was tired of it. I guess I got to a point and snapped."

Bond was later set at $750,000, an amount defense lawyer Steve Farese claimed was excessive and "tantamount to no bond at all." A plea for reduction of bond was filed and subsequently denied.

Mary's lawyers, Leslie Ballin and Steve Farese, also filed motions to throw out her confession on a technicality, to require prosecutors to state whether or not they will seek the death penalty (they did not), to give potential jurors an extensive questionnaire, and other motions relating to voir dire.

The Trial

On April 18, 2007 Mary took the stand in her own defense. Mary told the jury that her husband often "berated" her and forced her to wear "slutty" costumes for sex. As proof she displayed a pair of high-heeled shoes and a wig to which those in attendance gasped.

Mary claimed that she only shot Matthew accidentally. She said that she went to the bedroom closet and retrieved a shotgun because she wanted to force him to work through their problems. "I just wanted him to stop being so mean," she said through tears.

Mary denied she ever actually pulled the trigger, but told the jury "something went off." She heard a boom, then ran from the house because she thought he would be mad at her. CNN report of testimony

Release from jail

Winkler made bond on August 12, 2006 and was set for release from jail. Initially, problems stemming from a 1999 suspension of her bail bond company kept her in jail. However, she was able to post $750,000 bond and was released on August 15, 2006, on the stipulation that she live with Rudolf and Kathy Thomsen, friends in McMinnville, Tennessee.

The trial commenced on April 9, 2007, with the prosecution resting on April 16. The defense rested two days later.

Verdict

On April 19, 2007, the jury came back with a verdict: guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a disposition that is not uncommon in cases involving allegations of abuse (e.g. Hudie Walker , Megan Price ), or even spousal infidelity . Prosecutors had asked that Winkler be convicted of first-degree murder, but the jury settled on the lesser charge after deliberating for eight hours.

Sentencing

The sentencing phase was set to begin on May 18, 2007, but was delayed due to a scheduling conflict by one of the attorneys. On June 8, 2007, a Tennessee judge sentenced Mary Winkler to 210 days in prison for the conviction of voluntary manslaughter. She has credit for already serving 5 months and the judge permitted her to spend up to 60 days in a Western State Mental Health Facility in Bolivar, Tennessee. That will be all the time she has remaining. She will be put on probation for the rest of her sentence.

Reaction

Critics of the verdict, including Men's rights activists, argue the sentence is not justice for the killing of Matthew Winkler . They argue that society only sees males as victimizers and say that the definition of emotional abuse has been expanded to include mere criticism.

Mary Winkler's family alleges that she was reacting to a combination of emotional, sexual, and physical spousal abuse . Many feminist groups and bloggers criticize the media's coverage of the story, some of which does not mention the allegations of abuse at all. They hold that abuse did happen, and that the reduced charge is therefore appropriate.

In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Winkler stated that her jail time was too short. "There's no amount of time I think you can put on something like this. I was just ready for them to lock the door and throw away the key to my batcave," she told Winfrey.

External links

• MSNBC: Did preacher's wife get away with murder?
• Dateline: The Preacher's Wife
• The Winkler Case: A four-part series as Mary's trial begins
• Crime Library; Mary Winkler's Arrest
• The Memphis Flyer: Shocker in Selmer
• Fox News; Mary Winkler's Alabama Confession
• CNN News; Wife who killed preacher set free