By David J. Krajicek

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(Continued)

Key Testimony

The Winklers' oldest child, Patricia, a 9-year-old fourth-grader, appeared as a prosecution witness, giving brief but heartbreaking testimony that often left the child, her mother, many jurors and spectators in tears.

Prosecutor Freeland asked whether Matthew had been a good father, and the children softly replied, "Yes, sir." Asked whether he had ever been "ugly" with her mother, she responded, "No, sir."

The girl, dressed in a black-and-white polka dot dress, said she and her sisters — Allie, 7, and Breanna, 2 — were startled awake by a "big boom or something" on the morning of the slaying. She said she crept into her parents' bedroom.

"My daddy was face down on the floor," the girl said. Her mother, she said, "was just walking around, and she saw us and closed the door."

She said she could hear Matthew groaning.

"Me and Allie was scared," she said.

The child said she has seen her mother only once since her arrest.

"I didn't want to see her," she said. "I mean, I still love her, I just don't want to."

Matthew's mother, Diane, later testified that during the children's first visit with Mary, she told them that she had not killed Matthew. She indicated that both she and the children were angered by what they saw as a bald-faced lie.

Mary Winkler took the stand in her own defense — a risky move that paid off.

 

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By, David J. Krajicek