# Mary Winkler
**Mary Winkler** (Mary Carol Winkler) is a Tennessee woman who shot and killed her husband, Matthew Winkler, a Church of Christ minister, in the parsonage of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tennessee, on March 22, 2006. Charged with first-degree murder, she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in April 2007 after a defense built on years of alleged physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and her sentence, which amounted to a short period of confinement, drew national attention to how courts treat abused spouses who kill.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| The killing | Matthew Winkler, 31, was found dead on March 22, 2006 from a shotgun blast to the back in the bedroom of the Fourth Street Church of Christ parsonage in Selmer, Tennessee[2](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/August-15/wife-of-slain-minister-released-from-jail) |
| Arrest | Mary Winkler, then 32, was arrested the next day in Orange Beach, Alabama, about 400 miles from home, driving the couple's three daughters in the family minivan[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837) |
| Charge | A grand jury indicted her for first-degree murder on June 12, 2006; she could have faced the death penalty[4](https://abcnews.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2067343&page=1) |
| Bond | Released on $750,000 bond on August 15, 2006, required to live in McMinnville, Tennessee, work at a dry cleaner, and report to the state probation office[5](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/slain-ministers-wife-free-on-bond/) |
| Verdict | Convicted of voluntary manslaughter in April 2007[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) |
| Sentence | Roughly two months in a mental health facility and about a week of additional jail time, per one account; a 2008 federal appellate opinion describes a three-year prison sentence[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) • [6](https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0440p-06.pdf) |
| Aftermath | She is free and has custody of her children[7](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness-different-outcomes-in-similar-murder-cases-in-tennessee) |
## The killing and arrest
Church members found Matthew Winkler dead in his bedroom on March 22, 2006 after the well-liked minister failed to appear for evening services; he had been hired by the Fourth Street Church in February 2005 in his first full-time minister position, after earlier work as a youth minister in McMinnville and Nashville.[2](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/August-15/wife-of-slain-minister-released-from-jail) • [4](https://abcnews.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2067343&page=1) The couple had three daughters, Patricia, 8, [Mary Alice](https://www.edgepedia.org/mary-alice), 6, and Breanna, 1, and Selmer, a town of about 4,600 people in McNairy County in western Tennessee, was described as having regarded the family as a "perfect couple."
When a gray minivan matching the Winklers' missing vehicle was spotted in Orange Beach, Alabama, 24 hours after the death, police stopped it with guns drawn and arrested Mary Winkler.[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837) She waived extradition on March 25, 2006 and was returned to Selmer, where she was held in the McNairy County Jail.[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837) Authorities said she confessed the day after the shooting, saying she had snapped after years of abuse; in a statement to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation she said she shot her husband after a night of arguing over finances and other family problems.[8](https://abcnews.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=2667042) • [5](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/slain-ministers-wife-free-on-bond/)
## Trial and defense
The trial in 2007 became a national media event, with reporters converging on the small town.[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837) Winkler testified that her husband had abused her physically and sexually, and her defense attorney Steve Farese argued that the abuse was constant: "He would isolate her from her family. And he would abuse her. Not just verbally, not just emotionally, and not just physically, in other ways too... And she lived a life where she walked on eggshells."[2](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/August-15/wife-of-slain-minister-released-from-jail) • [9](https://abcnews.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=3044975) During her testimony she described a platform-heel shoe and a wig.[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837) A significant event in her earlier life, the sudden death of her sister Patricia when Mary was a teenager, became central to the defense.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) Her family supported the abuse account: her father, Clark Freeman, said he had once confronted her, saying "Mary Carol you are coming off as a very abused woman, very battered," and she would hang her head and say everything was all right.[3](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837)
Toward the end of the trial, word spread that, shortly before the killing, Winkler might have fallen victim to a scheme by swindlers involving checks that bounced, and those following the case anticipated that this would shape how the jury weighed whether the shooting had been deliberate.[9](https://abcnews.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=3044975) The jury convicted her of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/)
## Sentence
The outcome was unusually light for a homicide conviction. [Lisa Bloom](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisa-bloom), a legal analyst who reported on the case for [Court TV](https://www.edgepedia.org/court-tv), observed that although those in the legal field saw the evidence as a solid case of first-degree murder, people in the local community seemed to accept Mary's accounts of abuse and humiliation.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) One account puts her confinement at roughly two months in a mental health facility plus about a week of additional jail time.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) A 2008 opinion of the [United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-court-of-appeals-for-the-sixth-circuit), citing the case in passing, states that she was "sentenced to three years in prison" after being found guilty; the accounts differ in how they characterize the term she actually served.[6](https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0440p-06.pdf) The Death Penalty Information Center records that she served about two months in a mental health facility and is now free.[7](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness-different-outcomes-in-similar-murder-cases-in-tennessee)
## Aftermath
The case triggered a custody battle under Tennessee law, which allows courts to strip a parent of parental rights if that parent is convicted of killing the other parent, even though biological parents are generally favored; in the end, Winkler won back custody of her children.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/) • [7](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness-different-outcomes-in-similar-murder-cases-in-tennessee) The Death Penalty Information Center has used the case to illustrate arbitrariness in Tennessee homicide outcomes: Gaile Owens, who suffered abuse from the husband she had killed by hiring a stranger, was examined by the same psychologist as Winkler twenty years apart and diagnosed with battered woman's syndrome, but was sentenced to death while Winkler served about two months.[7](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness-different-outcomes-in-similar-murder-cases-in-tennessee) When ABC News correspondent John Quinones contacted her for a retrospective report in April 2024, Winkler declined to discuss the case.[1](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/)
## References
1. [Mary Winkler Case: Abuse Defense, Sentencing, and Aftermath, LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/mary-winkler-case-abuse-defense-sentencing-and-aftermath/)
2. [Wife of slain minister released from jail, HISTORY.com](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/August-15/wife-of-slain-minister-released-from-jail)
3. [What made the preacher's wife kill her husband?, ABC News (20/20)](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/made-preachers-wife-kill-husband/story?id=109358837)
4. [Pastor's Wife Indicted on First-Degree Murder Charges, ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2067343&page=1)
5. [Slain Minister's Wife Free On Bond, CBS News/AP](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/slain-ministers-wife-free-on-bond/)
6. [Sixth Circuit opinion 08a0440p-06](https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0440p-06.pdf)
7. [ARBITRARINESS: Different Outcomes in Similar Murder Cases in Tennessee, Death Penalty Information Center](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness-different-outcomes-in-similar-murder-cases-in-tennessee)
8. [Preacher's Wife Killed Husband Because of Abuse, Family Says, ABC News](https://abcnews.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=2667042)
9. [New Twist in Pastor Murder Trial, ABC News](https://abcnews.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=3044975)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Law and justice › Criminal law and penal justice › Offenses › Crimes against the person › Domestic and family killings › Intimate partner killings*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license