SELMER, Tenn., June 8 (UPI) -- A judge in Tennessee sentenced a woman Friday to seven days behind bars for killing the preacher husband she said abused her.
Mary Winkler must also spend at least 60 days in an approved mental health facility, The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported. Circuit Judge J. Weber McCraw could have sentenced her to probation or to as much as 10 years in prison.
McCraw gave Winkler a three-year term with most of it to be spent on probation. He said that 150 days should be served in jail and 60 days receiving psychiatric treatment.
With credit for 143 days she was jailed while awaiting trial, Winkler would spent only a week more in jail.
Winkler was charged with the first-degree murder of her husband Matthew, pulpit preacher at the First Baptist Church of Selmer. The jury convicted her of voluntary manslaughter after hearing testimony that her husband was verbally, sexually and physically abusive.
During Friday's hearing, Winkler's employer at a dry cleaner described her as a trusted and valued worker. Matthew Winkler's family denied that he was abusive, and his mother told Winkler she had broken her daughters' hearts by killing their father.
