Inconsistencies- Mary Winkler and Mechele Linehan

I have been serving myself an overload of forensic, investigative, true crime horror stories of human fallacy and I can’t stop reading. I can’t stop watching. What snaps in these people to make them throw away kindness and control? Is it some thick brooding violence that has always dwelled deep inside of them? Is it something that was instilled in them through horrible childhood experiences? Or are these just good people who make awful, impulsive mistakes? Who see no other means, no other solutions… and just act. Does logic simply escape them? Do they lack the control that other non-violent human beings exude? What causes them to kill when others choose to resolve?

Some cases are cut and dry. Some predators show no remorse. Some believe their victims deserved it. Some claim self-defense. Some claim insanity. Some claim childhood trauma or abuse or depression. And some people.. some people plead innocence…

I have such little faith left in our justice system that it honestly scares me. So many inconsistencies. So many errors, flaws… murderers walking free due to a judge signing on the wrong line, or an investigator obstructing evidence. I saw one man caught on tape in multiple interviews attempting to hire an undercover cop to murder his wife and family, even going so far as to secure the hit with $5000.00 in crisp green bills. He stood trial, was found guilty, and served to face up to 30 years behind bars, but in some odd twist of luck the Judge felt the man was far too important as a Surgeon for his community to be locked up. Instead the man was sentenced to 45 days of house arrest and probation. In another case, identical to the last, an average hardworking man undergoing a brutal divorce battle, attempted the same hit. Same circumstances, less money. He was found guilty and is currently serving 10 years in prison. Where is the standard? 

In another case, a preacher’s wife, Mary Winkler, one morning woke up and shot her husband in the back with a shotgun at point blank range. From all outside accounts they had a happy marriage with three daughters and he was a well-respected central figure in their small town. During the trial the wife produced a pair of 4-inch heels and a blonde wig; through tears she confessed her deceased husband “made” her wear these “evil” items during sex and regularly spoke down to her. She said he was rough with her behind doors and frequently perused porn sites and videos. While I don’t doubt her sexist “Saintly” husband was probably cold, controlling, and perverted, there is nothing more than her testimony to confirm this. No witnesses, no evidence. And this next begs the question, why not divorce him? Why not ask for help? When does murder become your best option?

The defense proceeded to make their case around one psychiatrist’s evaluation that stated, “previous trauma can lead people to go into “fogs” wherein they are not responsible for their actions”. They then concluded that Mary Winkler’s death of her infant sister when Mary was nine caused this “fog” to occur on the night of the murder. Mary testified that at 6 am her husband kicked her out of bed to stop the baby from crying. That she went into the bedroom and found him attempting to silence the baby with his hand. She then went into the kitchen and made coffee where she decided to go into the bedroom and “confront her husband” about his abuse. At this point, her memory goes blank, her so-called “fog” kicks in and the next thing she recalls is her bloody husband gasping for life. The defense also concluded that it was entirely possible the shotgun had misfired and that murder was never her intention. They failed to provide any reasoning for how the shotgun came to be in Mary Winkler’s hand, loaded, cocked, and pointed at her slumbering husband.

While I do not deny that black-outs and lapses in memory are entirely real and backed by psychological research, I simply affirm that there is no evidence to apply these findings to this case. Luckily for Mary Winkler she had 10 female jury members, many of which were housewives and mothers. In interviews following the conviction the female jurors emotionally connected with Mary and stated they believed every word she said. The 2 male jurors, on the other hand, did not believe any of it for a minute. These 12 everyday people, with no knowledge of the law, no background in psychological findings, and of limited education, were handed the fate of a woman and the retribution of a victim’s family. They had to decide between five convictions spanning First Degree Murder carrying the death penalty, all the way to criminal negligence holding less than a year in prison. The jury debated and they managed to settle on involuntary manslaughter, with, once time served was taken into account, concluded with Mary Winkler serving only 67 more days in prison for the murder of her husband.



Compare this with the case of Mechele Linehan; She had a credibly verified alibi and absolutely zero physical evidence tying her to the murder of Kent Leppink in 1996, but when the case was reopened in 2006 and her former roommate John Carlin was found guilty (*based solely on a testimony of his young son who vaguely recalled seeing his father wash a shotgun in a sink 10 years prior*) Mechele was plucked from her caring husband, beautiful daughter, and new life she had worked so very hard the last 10 years to obtain, and locked in prison in Alaska. She faced first degree murder charges because although they knew she could not have pulled the trigger, they felt she was the “mastermind” behind the murder. After a solicitous, slanderous, media-crazed trial, in which the prosecution even stretched so far as to compare Mechele to the vixen in the movie The Last Seduction, she was convicted, based primarily on her past occupation as a stripper. Every headline read “Stripper turned soccer mom faces murder charges”. EVERY headline employed the word STRIPPER. As if that one word in someway was synonymous with murderer. Although Mechele hoped to receive leniency from the judge who had the ability to produce an extremely limited sentence, she found none. The judge said he saw no difference between the one who carries out the act and the one who requests it. Mechele was sentenced to 99 years in prison and has been fighting for an appeal ever since.

Although Mechele Linehan was an employee of a gentlemen’s club for two years while she paid her way through college, and she had since put herself through graduate school, worked for many charities and organizations, married a doctor, and started her own business, she was still judged on this singular title: Stripper. Juror’s blatantly stated they could not trust someone who “manipulated men” for a living. Kent Leppink’s character was never brought into the courtroom; he had been excommunicated from his family for extorting money from their business, and was a frequent patron of Mechele’s at the strip club, going so far as to stalk her-- now to clarify I am in no way insinuating that this justifies what happened to him, but could someone who engages in these activities not come into contact with other less favorable characters? Still the defense felt, as the law states, the burden of proof lies upon the prosecution,beyond reasonable doubt. In interviews proceeding the verdict, one of the juror’s stated she was “shocked” and “surprised” that the police took Mechele to jail after they announced their decision. Seriously? Does anyone else see a problem with this?

67 days for holding the gun and firing point blank, versus 99 years with little to no linking evidence. Where is the justice? 


"If freedom is a right, then why do we treat it as a privilege?"