Mary Winkler, preacher's wife who shot and killed her husband, released from jail and speaking out

by Donald Pennington
Member since:
August 24, 2010

November 05, 2010 03:06 PM EDT (Updated: November 05, 2010 08:09 PM EDT)
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After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband Matthew Winkler, Mary Winkler has been released from jail. Her story made headlines after the 2006 killing, which she claimed was after years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, at the hand of her abusive husband. Now, in an exclusive interview with NBC, she says she has a story to tell.

Not only is Mary Winkler out of jail, she's telling her story.
In the following NBC Today Show video, Mary is finally able to tell her side of events to the general public, and outside of the courtroom. Not only does she openly admit to having shot and killed her husband, she states that she feels she should be in jail “for the rest of my life,” and that “I'm not ever gonna get used to that,” when asked about how it feels to know she took his life.

Although Matthew Winkler died, Mary Winkler says she was the victim.
A jury of ten women and two men convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter, and not murder, after her defense team presented credible expert witness testimony, which confirmed she had suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since the age of thirteen, dissociative fogs, and had suffered cruelly under the thumb of a deluded maniac of a husband, until she could simply stand no more. She does not deny shooting her husband in the back, and while he slept. Everybody has their limits of how much abuse they will tolerate, and Mary had passed hers. For killing her husband, she served a sentence of only 200 days in custody. She has also regained custody of her three girls, as of August 2008.

So, what is Mary Winkler doing, now that she's free?
In addition to the same duties as any other single Mom raising three beautiful little girls, Mary Winkler is sharing a message in the hopes of preventing domestic violence and abuse. Now that she's finally speaking to the media about what she had gone through within her marriage to an animal, she tells women in similar circumstances to not be afraid to get help. She says “Speak up. Someone will believe you.”

But now, let's hear from all of you, about Mary Winkler.
Do you believe Mary Winkler was justified in shooting Matthew while he slept? We all know domestic violence is a legitimate concern, and spousal rape is just as much an atrocity as any other sex crime. But do you believe that, in 2006, Mary Winkler was unable to find any sort of support with her situation? Or, do you believe Mary Winkler got away with the murder of her husband Matthew?