Psychologist tells of porn use, sex abuse
Describing a pattern of physical, mental and sexual abuse, the psychologist for Mary Winkler said the accused killer suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and was unable to be responsible for her actions when she shot her husband in the back while he slept in their Selmer home last year.
?Significant mental health issues were present,? testified psychologist Dr. Lynne Zager of her assessment of Ms. Winkler in telling the various forms of abuse the defendant said she suffered at her late husband?s hands. ?She suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome since she was 13 after the death of her sister.?
Zager maintained Winkler had mental health issues which made her disassociate when it came to coping with stress.
?It was like being in a fog,? Zager said of how Winkler would sometimes respond to stress.
Zager specifically detailed various forms of abuse Ms. Winkler said she suffered from her husband leading up to the killing, noting Ms. Winkler would always have a picture of her late husband with her during her visits.
?He had pornographic pictures and movies he wanted her to watch with him,? Zager said Ms. Winkler told her, noting the defendant said she was not comfortable in watching pornography or dressing up in various outfits. ?Wearing wigs and high heels.?
Ms. Winkler also told Zager she was forced into sexual acts with her husband which she did not want to perform, noting they were painful and she was afraid her husband would injure her. The defendant contends she and her husband had sex hours before she shot him.
As for physical and emotional abuse, Mary told her psychologist that Matthew had isolated her from her friends and family and would shove her and had, at times, left marks on her body. She also said he pointed the shotgun at her on more than one occasion ? the same shotgun she used to kill him.
In recalling the time leading up to the killing, Ms. Winkler told her psychologist she and her husband had argued over finances before going to bed.
The following morning, Ms. Winkler says her husband was awoken by their youngest child crying and was mad because the baby monitor was not on. She then said she saw him go into the room and cover the baby?s nose and mouth to get it to stop crying, noting he had done the same with their earlier children when they were babies. However, in the case of her youngest daughter, she was concerned because the baby was premature and its lungs may not have been healthy.
It was a short time later Winkler said she was making coffee and suddenly flashed forward to hearing the gun go off, claiming not to remember getting the gun and actually pulling the trigger.
Zager said that during her analysis of Ms. Winkler she found she could not formulate the culpable mental state to murder, but stopped short of saying she was not competent to stand trial or that she was insane at the time of the crime.
Prosecutor Walt Freeland suggested that the psychologist, who along with the rest of the Winkler defense team is working for free, may be doing so for a public stage when it comes to alleged spousal abuse.