Woman in preacher slay case moved from jail

updated 1:51 p.m. ET June 21, 2007

SELMER, Tenn. - A woman convicted in the shooting death of her preacher husband was moved from a county jail to a mental health facility, officials said Thursday.

The judge approved the move for Mary Winkler on Wednesday, said Sue Allison, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. The name and location of the facility were not disclosed.

Winkler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her Church of Christ minister husband, Matthew, in the Selmer parsonage where the family lived.

She was sentenced June 8 to three years, but she will be eligible for probation after serving 210 days and got credit for the 143 days she already spent in jail. That left 67 days and the judge ruled that 60 of those days could be served in a facility where she could receive mental health treatment.

Officials did not say why she required mental health treatment. At trial, Winkler testified that she had been physically and emotionally abused by her husband.

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