Mary Winkler of Tennessee was a 32, when she was charged with fatally shooting her husband. In 2March of 2006 Mary Winkler’s husband was found shot in the back, at the church of Christ. Winkler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter by a jury of her peers. In Winkler’s defense her attorneys claimed she had been physically abused by her husband.

In Mary Winkler’s defense, her attorney used an abuse excuse; according to M. Lippman,
“ Dershowitz defines an abuse excuse as a legal defense in which defendants claim that the crimes with which they are charged result from their own victimization and that they should not be held responsible” (2010 Ch. 9). In her defense, witnesses claimed they saw bruises on Winkler and had even confronted her, asking if she was a victim of domestic violence. Winkler even denied abuse to close family members. The defense painted a picture of a traumatized wife, whom had accidently shot her husband. Winkler claimed she did point the gun at her husband but did not mean for the gun to go off. Winkler’s Attorney said Winkler was physically abused, sexually abused, and emotionally abused for years. Even though Winkler’s husband was a preacher, and according to family friend a good person, the jury sided with Winkler and found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The judge sentenced Winkler to 210 days in jail; after 67 days served, she was sentenced she was released.

Ted Bundy is one of the most famous serial murders in United States history. His crimes spanned from the Seattle area to Colorado and Florida during the 1970s. Bundy was apprehended in Aspen, Colorado when his Volkswagen was pulled over for driving suspiciously. When police tried to stop him he eluded them. When he was finally pulled over evidence was found in his car linking him to local murders. Bundy choose to act pro se in his defense and waved his right to a jury trial. Because Bundy was acting as his own attorney he was allowed access to the law library for hours, with minim supervision. Bundy escaped from Aspen Colorado two times. Once prior to his conviction, where he jumped out of a window in the Law Library, and again after receiving a 15 year sentence. Bundy fled to Florida where he would later be put to death for his crimes. In 1989 on January 24, in the State of Florida carried out their sentence and Bundy was put to death by electrocution. During his trial in Florida Bundy and his Attorney’s felt his only way to avoid the death penalty was to claim insanity based from antisocial personality disorder. Bundy allowed his attorney to defend him; however he was still very active in the defense process. During the trail in Florida, the people saw a much different person, than the man they had seen in Aspen Colorado, Bundy was playing a roll to convince people he was insane and not responsible for his crimes. Ted Bundy underwent several test including, x-ray’s, blood work and brain scans, there was no evidence that there was anything wrong with him to conclude he was insane. According to A. Petrolini, “Bundy was classified as high Factor 1 psychopath” (2002). Petrolini goes on to say, “This means he is very intelligent and had few indications of psychopathy early in life” A. Petrolini (2002). Therefore as Bundy grew older as an adult his psychopathy increased and so did his need to kill. People who have Anti Social Personality disorder are rarely treatable according to A Petrolini, “there is actually a chance that psychopath’s who are high factor one may get worse with treatment because instead of learning about themselves, they learn more about others and use that information” (2002). Bundy claimed his personality disorder caused him to kill; however he knew what he was doing was wrong. Even though he had a legit diagnosis, that diagnosis was not enough to prove he was insane. According to M. Lippman, “ a defendant must have been so impaired by a mental disease or defect at the time of the act that he or she did not know the nature or quality of the act, or, if the defendant did know the nature or quality of the act, he or she did not know that the act was wrong. According to Lippman, the vast majority of states allow criminal defendants to invoke the cognitive insanity defense” (2010). Bundy was a very intelligent and manipulative man, he had no feeling of regret or remorse; he knew his actions were wrong and understood the level of his crimes. Bundy’s insanity plea ultimately failed.

Resourses

Lippman, M. (2010). Contemporary criminal law: Concepts, cases, and controversies. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Retrieved Aril 7, 2013 from University of Phoenix Library.
Petrolini A., (2002). Antisocial Personality Disorder: The Case of Theodore Bundy
Andrea Petrolini, 2002. Retrieved April 8, 2012 from http://www.psychohelp.at/h/college/abnormal/aspd.shtml
Rucker. B. (2007) Winkler guilty of lesser charge.
Retrieved April 8, 2013 from http://murderpedia.org/female.W/w/winkler-mary.htm