Woman Convicted of Murdering Preacher Husband to be Released

By Pamela Mortimer

Mary Winkler, 33, the Tennessee woman who was convicted of fatally shooting her husband in the back, is expected to be released from a mental health facility Tuesday or Wednesday, attorney Steve Farese told CNN.

Farese said his client is refusing to speak to news media because she is involved with a legal battle to win custody of her three daughters and is faced with a $2 million civil suit filed by the parents of her slain husband, Matthew Winkler.

Farese also said that his client likely will return to her job at the dry cleaners in McMinnville, Tennessee, where she worked before the trial.

Matthew Winkler was a popular preacher the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, a town of 4,500 people located about 80 miles east of Memphis. On March 22, 2006, church elders went searching for Winkler after he failed to show up for evening vespers. Inside the parsonage, the elders found the body of the popular minister. He had been shot in the back. The next day, Winkler’s wife, Mary, was found in Orange Beach, Alabama where she was promptly arrested.

Mary Winkler, who never denied shooting her husband, was charged with murder. The conviction could have sent her to prison for up to 60 years, but a jury determined that Winkler was guilty of voluntary manslaughter due to her testimony in which she claimed to from suffer years of verbal and physical abuse.

Mary Winkler took the stand and described a hellish 10-year marriage during which she stated that Matthew struck her, criticized her, screamed at her, and blamed her when things went wrong. She also said that her husband forced her to watch pornographic videos, wear "slutty" costumes during sex, and forced her to perform sex acts that made her uncomfortable.

According to Winkler’s testimony, she and her husband were involved in an argument in which she attempted to force him to discuss their problems. At some point during the argument, "something went off" and Mary Winkler pointed the shotgun at her husband.

In a statement to police, Winkler said she didn't recall pulling the trigger that delivered the fatal shot. As Matthew lay on the floor, dying, Winkler said she apologized and wiped away the blood that bubbled from her husband's lips as he asked, "Why?"

Among the witnesses for the defense, a psychologist testified that Winkler was depressed and showed classic symptoms of a post-traumatic stress disorder.

In June, Mary Winkler received a three-year sentence. Circuit Court Judge J. Weber McCraw required that she serve only 210 days of the sentence, permitting her to serve the rest of the time on probation.

McCraw also gave Winkler credit for five months she spent behind bars awaiting trial, leaving about 60 days to her sentence. It was ruled she could serve the balance of her time in a mental health facility.

Since the arrest, the couple's three young daughters have been under the care of Matthew Winkler's parents. They have filed court papers seeking to terminate their mother’s parental rights.