Tennessee preacher's wife gets 2 months in killing

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Tennessee woman convicted of killing her preacher-husband who she said beat her, forced her to watch pornography and wear "slutty" clothes was ordered to spend two months in a mental facility on Friday.

Judge Weber McGraw of the McNairy County Circuit Court in Selmer, Tennessee, said he gave consideration to 33-year-old Mary Winkler's mental health and her lack of a previous criminal history in imposing a three-year sentence.

Her confinement was shortened to 60 days of mental treatment because of time she has already served in jail. The balance will be served on probation.

The mother of three children had been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in April for killing Matthew Winkler with a shotgun blast as he slept in the parsonage of his church in the town of Selmer, southwest of Nashville.

Winkler had pleaded for mercy during her sentencing on Friday, asking the judge to allow her to return home so she could take care of her children.

Prosecutors had maintained Winkler committed a "cold-blooded killing" following arguments over finances on the night of March 22, 2006, at the couple's home at the Fourth Street Church of Christ.

But Winkler testified her husband had beaten her throughout their marriage and forced her to engage in sex, wear what she called "slutty" outfits to bed and watch pornography against her will.

She also maintained she shot her husband accidentally when the gun discharged unexpectedly. She fled with the couple's three children because, she said, she knew they would be taken away from her when her husband's body was discovered in their bedroom.

She was apprehended with her children in the family minivan after driving south through Alabama to the Gulf of Mexico.

She could have drawn a life sentence had the jury found her guilty of the more serious charge of first degree murder which prosecutors had lodged against her.