Mary Winkler Freed

(Selmer, Tennessee) As news observers will recall, Mary Winkler killed her minister husband, Matthew, with a shotgun blast in the back while he was sleeping. Mary then fled with her three children and was arrested days later in another state.

Mary Winkler was originally charged with first-degree premeditated murder but was ultimately convicted of voluntary manslaughter in a trial that included a sort of modified battered woman defense.

Mary claimed her husband abused her and the shooting was an accident. Matthew was dead so her assertions went virtually uncontested. Mary produced a pair of shoes as proof that he made her get gussied up and wear high heels on occasion. Matthew wasn't there to explain himself -- to counter the allegations of abuse.

Consequently, a sympathetic Tennessee jury convicted Mary Winkler of a significantly less-serious crime, voluntary manslaughter. Mary was sentenced on June 8th to three years in prison with credit for time served. Somehow, the math worked out such that she was freed yesterday after serving 67 days.

To recap, early one March morning in 2006, Mary Winkler walks into the bedroom where her husband is sleeping. She aims a loaded 12-gauge shotgun at his back and pulls the trigger. Matthew Winkler dies almost instantly. Less than two years later, Mary Winkler is a free woman.

Having followed many heinous crimes and miscarriages of justice over the years, I have to candidly admit that the Mary Winkler case is one of the most troubling. It ranks right at the top with the Andrea Yates and Lashaun Harris cases. Readers surely remember Yates, who drowned her five children in the bathtub, and Harris, who tossed her three youngsters to drown in the cold swift current of San Francisco Bay. Like Mary Winkler, neither Yates nor Harris received any meaningful punishment.

One final warning to all of the husbands of America. First, check the latest outrageous, yet conceivable, definition of battered woman syndrome. Then be very careful about asking your wife to get gussied up. A legal precedent has been set where the "forced-into-high heels" abuse coupled with a creative new interpretation of "battered woman" will excuse a premeditated shotgun blast in the back while you are sleeping.

Matthew Winkler didn't deserve to die. Unfortunately, the justice system in Tennessee decided that he pretty much did. The system worked and the killer goes home.

Tip: slwlion


[Update 9/23/08]

Mary Winkler got a sentence of five months and custody of her children.