Mary was pushed to breaking point

After posting many online opinions on this week?s outcome in Selmer, I?m not sure we need another on the Mary Winkler matter, but our fine editor asked for one more from the staff. He?s firmly and articulately stated his, as have several in the editorial department. They just know mine is different, and that?s not to say I?m soft on crime.

My hubby used to say when it comes to punishment for heinous crimes, it wouldn?t be whether to enforce capital punishment, but simply ?how high the electric bill would be.? He doesn?t think I ever see shades of gray.

Maybe I?ve bent a little from such a hard line, but I still believe in punishment to fit the crime. However, I also believe in people?s breaking points, and that none of us may know what even our closest loved ones might be experiencing right before us.

OK, first off, let?s lay off the Church of Christ. If one believes the testimony of a controlling and domineering spouse in the Winkler defense, it isn?t because of faith. True loving Christian faith in any church affiliation doesn?t encourage or affirm spousal abuse or dominance. After 35 years of marriage, and that anniversary comes up April 29, this Baptist can say firsthand that the Church of Christ faith does not condone a manipulative, domineering husband. If that?s in one?s character or spirit, it is not church sanctioned.

Yes, I believed the testimony. I do think some of it got a little off track and hokey, but by and large I believed the defense. More than that, I believed the testimony of the forensic psychologist, and I don?t discount professional, educated evaluation as baloney and a lot of smoke and hooey.

Do I think there could and should have been a better resolution to Mary?s suffering. Absolutely. To say she made a bad choice is, of course, an understatement and not intended to lighten the severity of the outcome, which isn?t over yet.

The Winkler family just breaks your heart. They?ve lost a son, a brother, a grandson and a daddy. They were steady during an unbelievable ordeal and gracious and Christian at the result.

I do have a beef in this matter, and I heard it Friday night on a TV news report, just one day out from the verdict. One channel interviewed the jury chairman in the Winkler trial. What did he say, ?The women made me do it!?

Now that?s a crock; and he didn?t do his sworn job if he wasn?t satisfied with the result the jury announced. He listened to the testimony; he heard the same evidence everybody else in that jury box heard. If his heart of hearts told him different, he should still be sitting in the deliberation room right now arguing his point.

He?s the foreman. Don?t say the women wanted to go soft on the defendant, so I went along, or hint at that. Even the Supreme Court has studies that show women are typically harder on other women in court situations.

I?m a mom and generally I hold mothers to a higher standard than dads. That probably shouldn?t be, but I just think mothers are the heart of the family and even a greater protector of their children than dads. I surely didn?t feel a lot of sympathy for the defendant in the Jenny Ducker case and we had a number of normally tough-minded men in our newsroom that turned into softies when it came to that case.

My oldest daughter, and after 34 years of the Lord blessing us with her life we have yet to figure out how she ended up in this contrary family, has a belief she lives by and tries to instill in her 12-year-old. It?s simple, ?Live peaceably.?

Let?s pray that for the Winkler family, the children and for Mary.

Patricia Zechman is publisher of the Standard. She can be reached at 473-2191.