Murder Your Husband, Chat with Oprah!!

What a great deal. The new sentencing guidelines for conviction of premeditated murder in Tennessee is a few months in county jail, then a televised sit down enjoying coffee and snacks with the Queen of the Universe herself, Oprah Winfrey. Mary Winkler was the shotgun toting wife of the late minister, Matthew Winkler. She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting her husband with a twelve gauge shotgun in his back at close range as he lied in bed.

Mary Winkler was about as nondescript a person as you could ever find. She grew up in Tennessee, graduated high school in 1992 and got married to Matthew Winkler on April 20, 1996. The following year, Ms. Winkler gave birth to the first of their three daughters. The couples' two younger daughters were born in 1999 and 2005 respectively. At the time of his death, Mr. Winkler was the minister of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tennessee.

The family of Matthew and Mary Winkler had been described as a "good Christian family" by family, friends and parishioners alike, with both of the Winklers committed to their church ministry. "Mary Winkler appeared to everyone as a loving wife, who would bring lunch to her husband and eat it with him in his office at the church and support him in his ministry," church members said. The happy couple was ironically planning a trip the week of April 20th to commemorate their ten year wedding anniversary. But those plans, of course, died with Matthew on March 22, 2006.

To make the proverbial long story short, Mary gathered up her three daughters and took off out of town, got caught and admitted murdering her husband. She then was arrested and remanded into custody. At that point, she of course "lawyered up" and was released on bond less than five months later. On April 19, 2007 (one day before what would have been her 11th wedding anniversary), Mary was convicted of Voluntary Manslaughter, carted off to a mental health facility for a two month stretch and was RELEASED on probation. The dead minister's wife spent a grand total of 5 months in county jail and two months in a rehab facility. Not too shabby if you're a big fan of getting away with premeditated murder. You heard me right. She was angry at her husband. So as he was lying in bed, she walked to a hallway closet, took out a loaded shotgun, pointed said gun at her husband's back, pulled the trigger, watched him fall to the floor with a gaping shotgun sized hole in his back, then gathered up their three children and drove 340 miles away into a neighboring state.

Mary Winkler's defense was she was an abused wife. Since no credible evidence exists to support that claim, we apparently must accept her word. It would seem the jury in Tennessee did just that. We now fast forward to September 12, 2007. Ladies and Gentlemen, Madames et Messieurs, Senors y Senoras, OPRAH WINFREY is in da' house.

In a previously taped interview in the Mississippi office of her lawyer, Winkler went on to tell a one sided story about how SHE was the real victim and how she shot her husband in the back in self-defense. Winkler could not appear with Oprah in Chicago because one of the provisions of her probation prevents her from leaving Tennessee without permission. However, the main reason Winkler went on Oprah's show was to whip up public support in order to regain custody of her three fatherless children. The kids are currently living with their murdered father's parents.

Mary, you callously and cowardly murdered your husband. You got seven months of easy time, you never sought help from authorities for your baseless allegations, you left three innocent little girls without a father, you left them with the stigma of their mother killing their father, you killed your in-laws' son and now you insist on regaining custody of these children? God help these kids if you do regain custody and they act up. Are they going to hear "stop it right away or mommy is going to the hall closet to get Mr. Shotgun," or if one of the kids say something mean, are they going to hear, "daddy said that to me once, ONCE!"

Mary, go away. You've done enough. You beat a murder rap. You're out in public. You'll write a book. For the love of God, you've even met Oprah. Leave your kids alone. Cases involving minors are always decided by what's in the best interest of the children. A judge could very well believe kids belong with a parent, even if that parent shot the other parent in the back with a shotgun. Mary Winkler, your 15 minutes are over, your marriage is over, your right to be a parent to those three fatherless kids is over. You literally got away with murder and you cheated your kids out of their father. Why don't you just take your shotgun and go home alone. Isn't it high time you finally get what you deserve and not what you want........