When crimes are committed in this country we hear various opinions on the trial, conviction or acquittal, or the sentence imposed on those found guilty.

When Mary Winkler confessed and was convicted of killing her husband many thoughts were offered as to her punishment. While I might have personal feelings on the topic of murder, I will not sit in judgment of Mrs. Winkler as that task lies with a far higher authority.

Mary Winkler has been released from custody and is meeting with her probation officer this morning in McMinnville, Tenn., her Memphis attorney said.
The 33-year-old Winkler, who was convicted in April of voluntary manslaughter for killing her preacher husband, was released from an undisclosed mental health facility where she was moved on June 20 from the jail in Selmer, Tenn., to serve the final days of her 210 days of incarceration.

She will be on probation for the remainder of her three-year sentence.
“I talked to her at 8:30 this morning and she sounded upbeat,” said Leslie Ballin, one of her defense attorneys. “She plans on living a law-abiding life and to resume the battle for custody” of her three daughters.

The jury must have seen or felt something during the trial which allowed them to reduce the charge of first degree murder to voluntary manslaughter and the judge must have recognized a troubled woman to commit her to a mental facility rather than prison. Perhaps their verdict and the sentence were based on the following:

She was charged with first-degree murder in the case that captured national attention, but a McNairy County Circuit Court jury returned the lesser verdict after she testified that her husband was physically, mentally and sexually abusive to her during their 10-year marriage.

This story was a tragedy for an entire family, most importantly for the surviving children who have now lived without a mother and will never have a father in their lives again. I hope for them they have the strength to overcome the emotional scars that this affair most certainly has inflicted.

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