Matthew threatened Mary with shotgun, defense says – Prosecutors say murder was to prevent financial woes from being discovered

With the defense claiming Mary Winkler had many times stared down the barrel of the same shotgun she used to kill her husband, two very different pictures were painted of the former preacher?s wife during opening arguments of her murder trial yesterday in Selmer.

The state says Winkler was covering for her own criminal behavior with false claims of abuse, while the defense maintains she was mistreated by the man she is charged with murdering, Matthew Winkler.

?What appeared to be a marriage made in heaven, behind closed doors, was a living hell,? said Winkler?s attorney, Steve Farese, during opening arguments Thursday morning before the 12-woman, four-man McNairy County jury. ?She lived a life where she walked on egg shells. He isolated her from her family and abused her. Mary was his whipping boy.?

Farese sought to portray his client, who sat weeping during opening statements, as a victim of a controlling husband who crossed the line into physical abuse.

The state, however, maintained Winkler sought to cover her own mistakes ? specifically a check kiting scheme which had left the family finances ?in shambles? and was about to be discovered by Matthew.

?The house of cards she had set up was falling down,? said Assistant District Attorney Walt Freeland, telling jurors the defendant had gone so far as to open a secret account in another city, using a post office box and her cellphone as her only contact.

Specifically, Freeland maintained Ms. Winkler had deposited checks into several accounts sent to her as part of a scam, checks she should have known were worthless. Freeland said the banks had started to call her concerning the illegal deposits which had put her more than $5,000 overdrawn and that her husband would soon learn of the family?s financial woes.

Freeland noted Ms. Winkler told lawmen, after being found in Orange Beach, Ala., the day after killing her husband, that she and Mr. Winkler had talked about finances the evening before and she didn?t refer to any physical confrontation.

?There was no good reason why he was murdered,? Freeland said, noting Ms. Winkler had made statements to lawmen saying things like ?her ugly had just come out? as reasons for the shooting. ?She said it (the gun going off) was not as loud as she thought it?d be.?

Freeland noted there could be no good reason for such a murder, especially when Mr. Winkler?s killer was the person he trusted most.

?Why?? Freeland began. ?That was the last word Mr. Winkler spoke on this Earth as he lay dying on his own floor.?

While the state maintained Ms. Winkler committed the crime on the verge of being exposed for her check kiting scheme, Farese maintained Mr. Winkler was the ?smart one? in the marriage and controlled her every move.

?She had to be perfect,? Farese said of constant pressure put on the defendant by her husband, noting she had opened the alleged secret bank account to protect her husband?s credit rating in light of their money problems. ?She was always trying to protect Matt.?

Farese said this protection came despite her being the victim of mental and physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

?She had that shotgun pointed at her before,? Farese said of the murder weapon. ?He had threatened to cut her to pieces.?

Farese maintained it was this fear of her husband that prompted her to retrieve the shotgun and carry it into the bedroom, with plans to make her husband listen to what she had to say. However, the defense will claim during trial that she became nervous and accidentally pulled the trigger, inflicting the fatal wound.

Farese said at first she did not even realize her husband had been hit as she fled the room after the gun went off. Upon finding him still in the floor, blood bubbling from his mouth, Farese said Ms. Winkler believed her husband to be dead. She then got her children, telling them a ?bad man? had broken into the house and hurt their father.

The state suggested it may call on the eldest daughter during trial to testify what she heard and saw the morning of the killing.

Prosecutors may also put a witness on the stand from Warren County to testify Ms. Winkler had made a threat when she was approached at a nightspot in McMinnville.

?She was asked if she was the preacher killer,? Freeland said. ?She then responded, ?Yeah, do you want to be next’

Ms. Winkler seemed surprised when she heard Freeland refer to the alleged verbal exchange.

The opening statements were made before the 12-woman, four-man jury which will be trimmed to an even dozen once the trial comes to an end but before the jury goes into deliberations. The four alternates to be eliminated will be determined by lottery at the end of the trial.