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Mary Winkler, the woman convicted in the shotgun slaying of her minister husband last year, was freed Tuesday after serving 67 days of her three-year prison term.
Winkler, 33, was released from a mental health facility where she had been undergoing treatment, said defense attorney Steve Farese Sr., according to The Associated Press. Of the 67 days she served in custody after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2006, Winkler spent 12 in jail and the rest in the facility, which Farese declined to identify.
On Wednesday, Winkler spent her first full day as a free woman in McMinneville, Tenn., 160 miles east of Selmer, Tenn., where Winkler had shot her husband, Matthew Winkler, a charismatic minister at Fourth Street Church of Christ.
Although Winkler was charged with first-degree murder after she confessed to shooting her 31-year-old husband and leaving town with their daughters, jurors convicted her of the lesser charge following testimony of the abuse she claimed to have suffered under her husband, who she said demanded sex she considered unnatural. Winkler was sentenced June 8 to three years in prison but had to serve only 67 days because of credit for time in jail before her trial, the nature of the offense and lack of a criminal record.
“I think God's forgiving... I would like to see her get her life back in order," said McMinnville resident Walter Bourgeois, according to WKRN Nashville.
“I feel sorry for her," commented Jamie Griffith, another resident of the small 12,000-people town.
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According to WMC-TV Memphis, Winkler has plans to live with friends for now as she serves the rest of her three-year prison term on probation. She will start working next month at Cleaners Express, the dry cleaners she had worked at for eight months while she was free on bail and awaiting trial.
The owners did not want to talk on camera about her situation but said she was happy to get a second chance, according to WKRN.
Meanwhile, Winkler is still engaged in a custody battle for her three daughters, whom her former in-laws are now raising.
A McNairy County court has yet to rule on the matter.
