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Tenn. Minister's Wife to Remain Jailed

Posted on: Friday, 11 August 2006, 21:00 CDT

By BETH RUCKER

SELMER, Tenn. - Despite indications that she would be released, a minister's wife charged with killing her husband will remain jailed because of problems discovered with her bonding company, a judge ruled Friday.

Mary Winkler, 32, is charged with killing Matthew Winkler with a single blast from a 12-gauge shotgun as he lay in bed at the Church of Christ parsonage following a night of arguing over strained family finances and other matters.

She has been behind bars since March 23, the day after his death, awaiting trial in late October.

Defense attorney Steve Farese Jr. said Friday afternoon that Judge Weber McCraw had approved the details of a $750,000 bond arranged by the family through Williams Bail Bond of Alamo. He said administrators were processing the paperwork to release her by Friday evening.

But shortly after 5 p.m., McCraw was informed by a judge in another county that Williams Bail Bond had been suspended over a 1999 incident, Farese said.

"The judge is just doing his job," Farese said. "It would have been an error if she had been released."

Williams Bail Bond employees would try to resolve any disputes and work toward a deal for Winkler's release early next week, Farese said. A woman who answered the phone at Williams Bail Bond's office Friday evening declined to comment.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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