Bond set at $750,000 in Winkler case
A judge Friday gave Mary Winkler – the Tennessee minister’s wife charged with slaying her husband – a chance to get out of jail until her scheduled Oct. 30 trial. In a written order, Judge Weber McCraw of McNairy County Circuit Court set bond for the 32-year-old mother of three at $750,000. However, her attorney, Steve Farese, told The Associated Press, “For her, that’s tantamount to no bond at all.”
The order came a week after a bond hearing at which prosecutors made public for the first time a possible motive in the case.
Winkler has been jailed since her March 23 arrest in the shooting death the previous day of Matthew Winkler, 31, minister of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tenn. She pleaded not guilty June 12 to first-degree murder charges.
In the four-page statement given to authorities, Mary Winkler said the family ate pizza and watched the movie “Chicken Little” before she and Matthew Winkler argued about finances the night of March 21. Defense attorneys have asked a judge to bar the statement from her trial.
Fourth Street members have consistently and publicly supported Mary Winkler in the three months since their minister’s slaying. Many have visited Winkler or sent personal items – including a study Bible – to the McNairy County Jail.
July 7, 2006
PHOTO CAPTION: Mary Winkler, left, is consoled by her father, Clark Freeman, duringher bond hearing on June 30 in Selmer, Tenn. (photo courtesy of Russell Ingle, Independent Appeal)
The order came a week after a bond hearing at which prosecutors made public for the first time a possible motive in the case.
Winkler has been jailed since her March 23 arrest in the shooting death the previous day of Matthew Winkler, 31, minister of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tenn. She pleaded not guilty June 12 to first-degree murder charges.
In the four-page statement given to authorities, Mary Winkler said the family ate pizza and watched the movie “Chicken Little” before she and Matthew Winkler argued about finances the night of March 21. Defense attorneys have asked a judge to bar the statement from her trial.
Fourth Street members have consistently and publicly supported Mary Winkler in the three months since their minister’s slaying. Many have visited Winkler or sent personal items – including a study Bible – to the McNairy County Jail.
July 7, 2006
PHOTO CAPTION: Mary Winkler, left, is consoled by her father, Clark Freeman, duringher bond hearing on June 30 in Selmer, Tenn. (photo courtesy of Russell Ingle, Independent Appeal)
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