“I think it sends a terrible message about the criminal justice system, that you can commit a homicide and literally get away with it. Justice was definitely not served here. You had a preacher, who by all accounts was loved in his community, who was shot in the back while he slept.

"You have a woman who says she was abused with absolutely no history, no shred of evidence....battered women who really are battered have to look at this and say this is a total miscarriage of justice...

"At the trial, she took out a pair of high heels and she said, ‘This is how I was abused. He made me wear these heels when we were intimate with each other.' That’s not abuse. This is ridiculous.”--Former judge and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, on the Today Show

On the Today Show, former judge and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, condemned the criminal justice system for its kid gloves treatment of husband-killer Mary Winkler. She noted how "strange" it was that during the sentencing the judge talked about "days" as opposed to "years" in a homicide case. Mary Winkler shot Matthew Winkler (pictured) in the back and allowed him to bleed to death for 20 minutes.

To learn more, watch the Today Show video here or see the article below. Also, see my recent blog post Murderess Mary Winkler Walks.

[I'm really starting to like Pirro--unlike many media commentators, she seems to be willing to hold women accountable for their behavior. In June, she and I appeared together on Fox's nationally-syndicated Morning Show with Mike and Juliet to discuss the Texas frozen embryo case. The case involves Augusta Roman, who wants to have children with her ex-husband Randy Roman, who is refusing. I sparred with Augusta's attorney while Augusta turned on the waterworks for the cameras. Pirro wasn't buying it, stating matter-of-factly that Augusta had no case. To watch a video of the show and to learn more about the case, click here.]

Did preacher’s wife get away with murder? Mary Winkler released after serving just 67 days for killing husband
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
Aug 16, 2007

Mary Winkler, the Tennessee woman who shot her minister husband to death while he slept, was released back into society this week after serving just 67 days, most of it in a prison hospital.
Did she get away with murder? Many think she did, including two TODAY experts, former judge and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow.
“You can’t give Mary Winkler, in my opinion, any kind of clean bill of health that she won’t be violent in the future,” Ablow told TODAY host Meredith Vieira on Thursday.
“I think it sends a terrible message about the criminal justice system, that you can commit a homicide and literally get away with it,” added Pirro.
Winkler admitting shooting her husband, Matthew, with a 12-gauge shotgun on the night of March 22, 2006, in their parsonage home in Selmer, Tenn.
She then packed her three young daughters, ages 8, 6 and 1, in the family car and drove to Alabama, where she was taken into custody the following day.
During her trial in April, she claimed that she had been abused by her husband, with whom she had appeared to have an ideal marriage. She claimed not to remember getting the shotgun from a closet in their bedroom nor discharging it.
Winkler said that her husband, mortally wounded, rolled off the bed and asked her, “Why?” She said she told him she was sorry.
She was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, but on April 19, after eight hours of deliberation, the jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter. On June 8, she was sentenced to 210 days in prison, with credit given for 143 days she had spent in jail the previous year before making bail. The judge allowed her to spend 60 of the remaining 67 days of her sentence in a mental health facility.
“Justice was definitely not served here,” Pirro told Vieira. “You had a preacher, who by all accounts was loved in his community, who was shot in the back while he slept. You have a woman who says she was abused with no [absolutely] history, no shred of evidence.”
Matthew Winkler was a minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ, a denomination that believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible, including Saint Paul’s teaching that women should be submissive to their husbands.
Mary Winkler’s attorneys claimed that she was beaten by her husband. She said at her trial that he made her watch pornographic videos and wear “slutty” outfits for sex. She said he was controlling and criticized her constantly.
At the time of the killing, the couple had been having arguments about their finances. Prosecutors introduced evidence that Mary Winkler had gotten involved in an online Nigerian check-kiting fraud and had written checks for thousands of dollars. That, the prosecution argued, was the real source of the friction in the marriage.
But the defense said there had been continuing abuse.
“[battered women who really are battered have to look at this and say this is a total miscarriage of justice] ...What’s interesting, Meredith, at the trial, she took out a pair of high heels and she said, ‘This is how I was abused. He made me wear these heels when we were intimate with each other,’” Pirro said. “That’s not abuse. This is ridiculous.”
If the sentence, to Pirro, was ridiculous, the treatment she received, to Ablow, was incomplete.
“In 60 days you can start somebody on a medicine if you felt that he or she was depressed,” he said. “You can see the results of that medication kicking in. You might be able to do psychological testing to see if there’s any underlying delusion or fixed and false belief like paranoia. What you can’t do, you can’t predict the future with anything like certainty.”
While she was out on bail awaiting trial, Winkler worked at a dry cleaner in McMinnville, Tenn. Her employer has said he would welcome her back. Her husband’s parents, Dan and Diane Winkler, have had custody of her three children since her arrest. The grandparents are seeking permanent custody, which Mary Winkler is opposing.
“What do you think is next for her?” Vieira asked Ablow.
“What I would hope is next for her is some sort of insight and healing that would help her understand that this violence is still somewhere potentially inside her,” Ablow replied. “This hasn’t been resolved. We don’t have a good explanation for why Mary Winkler killed her husband.
“What do I know will happen? I think that’s a black box. Anything could happen.”
 
[Note--on the broadcast Pirro, said "absolutely no evidence" and "battered women who really are battered have to look at this and say this is a total miscarriage of justice." For whatever reason, Celizic didn't put these quotes in his article, so I inserted them in brackets.--GS]

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Feminism/NOW, Domestic Violence/DV System, Men's rights, Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, False Accusations, Sexism, Gender Issues (Misc.). You can trackback from your own site.