Selmer, Tenn. – The 9-year- old daughter of a preacher’s wife testified Monday at her mother’s murder trial that she heard a “big boom” coming from her parents’ room, then saw her father on the ground.
“I went to Mama and Daddy’s room to see what had happened. I saw Daddy laying on the floor face down,” Patricia Winkler said.
The girl kept her composure as she described her father’s death, but just after taking the stand, she looked to her mother, Mary, and started crying when the prosecutor asked her for her name and birthday. Mary Wink ler and several jurors also began weeping.
The prosecution rested its case Monday after four days of testimony. The defense was expected to begin calling witnesses today, and defense attorney Leslie Ballin has hinted Mary Winkler could take the stand.
Matthew Winkler, a 31-year- old preacher at Fourth Street Church of Christ in this west Tennessee town, was found dead in the parsonage where the family lived in March 2006. A day later, Mary Winkler was arrested on the Alabama coast 340 miles away, driving in the family minivan with Patricia and her two younger sisters.
Prosecutors have described Matthew Winkler as a good father and husband. But Mary Winkler’s attorneys have said he was a dictator at home who terrorized his family.
The prosecution has said the Winklers were in financial trouble and that bank managers were closing in on a check-kiting scheme Mary Winkler wanted to conceal from her husband.
