Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Wife who killed preacher husband out of jail

You ever read a story, and try and follow a story, and at the end, you're as confused as you were in the beginning?

Well, for me, that currently is this story.

As per CNN:

From Susan Candiotti and Rusty Dornin
CNN

(CNN) -- After spending a total of seven months in custody, the Tennessee woman who fatally shot her preacher was released on Tuesday, her lawyer told CNN.


Holding baby Breanna, Mary Winkler stands next to Matthew. In the foreground are Mary Alice and Patricia.

1 of 2 Mary Winkler, a 33-year-old mother of three girls, was freed from a Tennessee mental health facility where she was treated for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, lawyer Steve Farese said.

"She is out," Farese said.

Farese said his client will not talk to the news media because she continues to wage a legal battle to win custody of her girls and faces a $2 million civil suit filed by the parents of her slain husband, Matthew Winkler.

Except for her oldest daughter's brief testimony at her trial, Winkler hasn't seen her children in a year, the lawyer said.

Winkler will return to work at the dry cleaners in McMinnville, Tennessee, where she worked before the trial, Farese said. She is living with friends.

Winkler served about five months in county jail as she awaited trial, then spent two months undergoing therapy at the mental health facility following her conviction for voluntary manslaughter.

Winkler never denied shooting her husband, Matthew, the popular new preacher at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, a town of 4,500 people about 80 miles east of Memphis.



Now, you know my antennae went up with the ' shooting the husband in the back'. As a Black person, we have heard of too many cases where the police have short unarmed Black men, in the back, as they were ' resisting arrest'. Sounds hokey and full of BS when the cops say it, and it sounds suspect with this woman here.

I had looked forward to this trial, because I just KNEW that this was going to be one of those tabloid, CourtTV, Nancy Grace specials. We would know EVERYTHING and ANYTHING about this woman and her husband when it was all said and done.

But then, I blinked, and the trial was OVER. I was like, HUH? How can this trial be OVER. It took like a nanosecond, and nothing really was brought out about this case.

I mean, manslaughter? You should someone in the back, admit that you did it, and it's MANSLAUGHTER?

Seven months for shooting a man in the back?

Claiming abuse, yet not one report on record of abuse in the 10 years you were supposedly abused? I'm not saying that it didn't happen...I'm just saying that I don't know of a case where a Black woman was given this much 'benefit of the doubt'. That, on her word, and no consistent evidence of abuse, would get out of jail after seven months.

If you know of such a case involving a Black woman with this little PROOF of abuse, please leave it in the comments section.

As I see it now, it's just another case of White privilege in the 'Justice' System.

Think about this: Genarlow Wilson's still in jail and has served longer for consensual sex; Shaquanda Cotton served more time for shoving a hall monitor.

This woman served SEVEN MONTHS TOTAL for killing her husband by shooting him in the back.

5 comments:

Donald said...

To quote Don King. "Only in America!" Here is a quick list I have compiled.

4 - Things that DO NOT exist;
The War on Terror.
The Easter Bunny.
Elvis.
Even Santa Claus. (Sorry Nai Nai)

4 - Things that DO exist
Judicial Injustice.
Voter Caging.
Police Brutality.
Blatant Racialism or All the above.

tc said...

Yeah, I'm not black, but I work in public schools in the Inland Empire of California and I read and hear-and see-plenty about the double-standard with which justice works around here. And really, if you're honest, you don't have to be black to wonder......wtf? This is incredible. 7 months when you've confessed to shooting your husband in the back? All I know is I would run naked in traffic the day this happened to a black man in this country. Maybe the woman has some mental health mitigating factors..........but seven months and she's free and clear? Crazy.

Anonymous said...

"Only in America"?

Blatant racialism, as in OJ walks. The predominantly black jury didn't care about the mountain of evidence against him. So infatuated were they with his celebrity that the racists let him go. The fact that the victims were white made it even easier for them.

Anonymous said...

Oh My Gosh!!!!!!Talk about judicial injustice AND police brutality. An angry women murders her husband and is set free. Umm....personally spent 20 angry sad years with a jerk like she described . Verbally abused, blamed for everything that went wrong, a sexual relationship with such screwed up dynamics I thought I would lose my mind and spirit. Was punished for breathing the same air he did. Did I shoot him? No, but spent many years agonizing over how to leave my children's father and raise them on my own. Finally got the courage to do so two years ago. Talk about post traumatic stress! 20 years!!!!!!Now welcome to judicial injustice!! My 19 year old son is serving more jail time than this murderer because he got drunk and spit on a cop. No resisting arrest, no physical contact just spit on the cop from his mouth that was bleeding after being slammed, by four or five officers, into a police vehicle with such force one tooth was knocked out and the other impacted in his nasal cavitity which was left there for over 21 days because it was not considered a medical neccessity. Guess what? He did not touch anyone, did not pull out a shot gun and shoot someone from behind. But god forbid he piss off an officer who sprayed him under a spit mask after being assured no more blood slinging and spitting if they would just remove the mask while he was handcuffed and secured in the back seat. Yes he made poor decisions, yes he was drinking beer purchased from a liquor store that I personally approached and begged them not to sell to minors. Even called the sheriffs office to report this. How friggin' disappointed and shocked I am to have read this story of a woman who admittedly murdered her husband and served less time than this horrid (sarcasm of course) criminal of mine who spit on a cop. I thank our screwed up justice system, the judge who would not look me in the eye while I spoke on my son's behalf, and the state prosecutor who smiled and winked at the cop/victim while the judge sentenced my son.
AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am all for law and order, I beleive in paying for your crimes, I even believe in the death sentence when needed. An officer deserves respect for the protection our society receives from his actions. But get real folks,ruin a young adults life because he acted stupidly? A murderer is set loose because we have too many gray areas within our system. What happenened to common sense? That would be like someone suing for millions over a lost pair of pants. Surely we would not waste time and money on such silly suits.
This Mom says,
WTF???????

Anonymous said...

This web site is one of the few where I see comments about this trial where I agree. I am amazed at how many people out there think she did nothing wrong. They are also hoping that she gets her children back!! What a screwed up judicial system we have in this country.