MEMPHIS, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A Tennessee woman convicted of killing her preacher husband asked a court to give her custody of their three daughters, now 2, 8 and 10.
The high-profile case of Mary Winkler galvanized their hometown of Selmer, Tenn. Winkler, 33, shot her husband Matthew, 31, in the back with a shotgun in March 2006, then told a jury she had endured years of abuse while married to the reverend.
After her conviction she was released on probation until 2010 after only seven months in custody.
Lawyers for Mary Winkler filed an emergency motion in a Carroll County court asking for her daughters' immediate return, or a resumption of parenting time after being separated from them for a year, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. The filing said she posed no threat but that continued separation would be "unconscionable and detrimental" to the girls
Her in-laws have filed suit in the same court to terminate her parental rights and have asked for a gag order, the newspaper said.
But the gag order request didn't specifically a videotaped interview with Mary Winkler scheduled to be aired Wednesday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
