By David Krajicek

210 Days for a Life

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Mary Winkler, the meek Tennessee preacher's wife who shot her husband dead in an act of vengeance of biblical proportion, faces just two additional months of confinement in a mental health facility following sentencing Friday.

Judge Weber McCraw, speaking to a packed courtroom at McNairy County Courthouse in Selmer, Tenn., decreed a sentence of 210 days in prison and three years probation.

Mary Winkler

But he added that 60 days should be served in a mental health facility. And since she already served 143 days in jail before making bond, the sentence essentially means she was will be a free woman after two months in mental health treatment.     

During the five-hour hearing, prosecutor Walt Freeland had argued for the maximum six-year sentence. Defense attorneys Steve Farese and Leslie Ballin argued for probation.

"I'm quite happy," Farese said outside court. "I think in the end he (Judge McCraw) did what was right." He said his client was looking forward to "a reunion with her daughters."

Judge McCraw said the offense made Winkler eligible for prison since it met the state's legal definition of a "violent, shocking and reprehensible" act. But her lack of a criminal record worked in her favor.

He added, "In fashioning this sentence, the court has considered the seriousness of the offense, the jury's verdict and the testimony about allegations of abuse of the defendant."

McCraw received 90 letters of recommendation written on Winkler's behalf. His 25-minute long sentencing edict, which he recited from a written script, included no chastising words about the defendant.

The sentence brought mute reaction in the courtroom. Neither Mrs. Winkler's supporters on the defense side nor victim Matthew Winkler's on the prosecution side made a peep.

Mary Winkler simply bowed her head and closed her eyes for about 20 seconds, as if in prayer.

She had been charged with first-degree murder and faced the prospect of half a century behind bars.

But a jury of 10 women and two men chose to convict her of voluntary manslaughter—a crime of passion "produced by adequate provocation sufficient to lead a reasonable person to act in an irrational manner," under Tennessee law.

The jury bought into the defense strategy of abused spouse syndrome. Winkler testified during her April 2006 trial that she had silently suffered years of isolating and demeaning abuse—physical, sexual and mental.

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