Mary Winkler trial...

April 14, 2007
Bank tellers say preacher's wife accused of murder had tried
to pass bad checks

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - Bank tellers testified Saturday that a
preacher's wife accused of murdering her husband with a
shotgun was in financial trouble and that their bank had
caught her trying to deposit bad checks.
Prosecutors have said the couple's account at Regions Bank
in Selmer was overdrawn by $5,000, and that bank
employees called Mary Winkler several times in the days
before Matthew Winkler was found shot to death in the
church parsonage.
Diane Hollingsworth, a teller at Regions Bank, said she
talked with Mary Winkler on March 21, 2006 - one day
before her husband was found dead.
"I just advised her that if she came in and talked to our
bank manager that there would be some way that we
could work it out - that it was not an impossible
situation," Hollingsworth said. "I advised her if she
wasn't able to come in, it would be turned over to our
security department."
Prosecutors have said Mary Winkler was caught up in
a swindle known as the "Nigerian scam," in which
victims are promised riches if they advance money to
cover processing expenses.
Defence lawyers have said the Winklers were both taken
in by the scam.
Mary Winkler, 33, was arrested a day after the shooting
on the Alabama coast, about 550 kilometres away, where
she was spotted driving the family minivan with their
three young daughters inside.
Investigators say she admitted shooting her husband and
that it had something to do with his constant criticism.
Three bank tellers testified that Mary Winkler had a
separate account at the First State Bank in Henderson,
about 30 kilometres north of Selmer, and tried to deposit
a number of large checks from that account into the Selmer
bank, including one for $7,000.
"I called to explain to her that the items she had
been depositing on the First State account, there were
no funds there," Hollingsworth said.
"That simply was not legal."
The tellers also said Mary Winkler deposited a $6,455 check,
allegedly from a Canadian Trust Bank, in December 2005
that turned out to be fraudulent.
On Friday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special
Agent Chris Carpenter said Mary Winkler told him about
her marital problems and the shooting.
"I don't remember going to the closet or getting
the gun," Winkler said, according to her
statement to Carpenter. "The next thing I remember
was hearing a loud boom, and I remember thinking it
wasn't as loud as I thought it would be."
The statement said Matthew Winkler criticized her
for "the way I walk, what I eat, everything.
It was just building up to this point. I was just
tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."
The trial is expected to last two weeks.

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/30/winkler.bond.hearing/index.html