|
Miscarriage of Justice - Convicted murderers don't go to prison in Tennessee...they get their kids back! MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mary Winkler, the woman convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her minister husband, has taken custody of her three daughters, one of her lawyers said Monday.
Rachael Putnam, a custody attorney, said the former minister’s wife picked the girls up Friday from the slain man’s parents, Dan and Diane Winkler. “She is absolutely overjoyed,” Putnam said. The lawyer said the children will live with Winkler at her home near McMinnville, about 60 miles southeast of Nashville. Winkler, 34, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting her husband, Church of Christ minister Matthew Winkler, at their Selmer, Tenn., residence in March 2006. She was tried for murder after her husband was found slain by shotgun blast to the back, but a jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter after she testified about suffering from years of physical and emotional abuse by her husband. Sentenced to three years in prison, she received probation for most of it, spending only 12 days in jail after her sentencing and two months in a mental health facility before being released. The children, ages 11, 9 and 3, had previously been living with their grandparents and had court-ordered visits with their mother. |