Winkler sentenced 26-years-to-life

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A man found guilty of murdering his wife was sentenced to 26-years-to-life in state prison on Monday.

“I’m ready for a big dose of karma,” Katelynn White, a member of the audience, said as Todd Winkler, now dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit instead of a suit, was led into the courtroom. “That outfit fits him better.” White would have been the stepdaughter of Rachel Winkler had she not been murdered by Todd on Feb. 27, 2012. He was convicted on Oct. 22.

Before the sentence was decided, Judge Kenneth J. Melikian allowed members of the audience to give victim impact statements. The first was by Don Hatfield, Rachel’s father.

His daughter was the “victim of this cruel murder,” and she was “viciously and brutally murdered by the defendant, Todd Winkler.” Todd took her life “without regards to the effects,” namely on himself, her mother, her children, brothers, friends and the world.

He said the world will no longer be able to enjoy “laughter, hugs and guidance” she provided. Nor will anyone hear her say, “I love you” ever again, Hatfield said.

He now raises the Winkler children — Eva, Ariel and Alex. “They have to navigate life without their mommy.”

Rachel’s dream had been to have a “family center” for holidays, birthdays and family events. But instead of fun with the family, Hatfield has had to face the nightmare of the trial for his daughter’s murder. During the trial, his daughter was portrayed by the defense as a “sick, incompetent, wayward drunk who was impossible to please. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In truth, Rachel was exceptional in many ways.”

The top of her college class, Rachel was “heavily recruited” by San Francisco accounting firms. She ran the Cameron Airpark single-handedly, Hatfield said.

Eva, the oldest child, tells her grandfather that she hopes her father “does not do that to any other boys or girls.” She has repeatedly screamed “Mommy, don’t leave me,” in the middle of the night. Alex, the youngest child, is unable to handle sudden movements or loud noises after having been in the room while his mother was murdered, Hatfield said. Even so, Rachel’s children are “exceptional … they are her legacy,” despite being “orphaned in one cruel deed. How can I explain why daddy killed mommy?”

Hatfield keeps his daughter’s ashes in his art studio, where the two used to paint. He said he can still sometimes hear her voice or feel the press of her hand in his.

A “great weight lifted from my heart” when he heard the guilty verdict, he told the court. His one request was that the maximum penalty was imposed and that Todd “live out the rest of his days in prison confinement,” to “never walk among the innocent” again. “May God have mercy on his soul.”

Hatfield then read a statement prepared by his son, David, who testified during the trial but could not attend the sentencing hearing.

As the only female of the four siblings, she had to be stronger in character than her three brothers, he wrote. David’s fiancée, Chenayle, had been pregnant with their first child at the time of his sister’s murder. “I needed her to help me to become a father,” he said. They were supposed to be parents together, and as his sister already had started raising two children and recently given birth to a third; she would be the perfect resource. They would be a team.

“Todd Winkler destroyed that dream,” David wrote.

Despite not wanting to, David forced himself to view the photos of his sister’s dead body. The photos were “more gruesome that I originally imagined … Todd is a monster.”

Winkler had “glared at me in court as if I was on trial, not him.” Winkler continued to glare at everyone speaking during the sentencing hearing, turned around in his chair.

David wrote that he had to “bear in grief beyond measure” and that he was still in shock, unable to relate to co-workers on the job he began the week after the murder.

He wrote that a friend told him that Winkler “lacked the mental capacity” to find another option for his stress and anger at an impending divorce with Rachel other than to kill her. David wrote that Winkler’s “choices in life are barbaric.”

David asked the court for Winkler to “never be able to feel true freedom again.”

Next, Shannon Thurman spoke. “Rachel Winkler-Hatfield was my best friend of 30 years,” she began, shaking and on the verge of tears. “She was more like a sister to me.” Rachel was “vibrant, graceful, gentle and so alive.” Upon hearing of her murder, Thurman thought, “This has to be a horrible joke, right?” She “felt numb, paralyzed by grief and pain. Why Rachel? She had so much to live for; so many talents, so much humanity and compassion to share.”

She still feels grief for not “being there when she needed me most. She died terrified and alone with an evil man. I feel as though my heart has been ripped out and stomped on.”

Recurring nightmares plague Thurman, who sat through the trial. “Medication for post-traumatic stress disorder allows me to sleep for a short time before the relentless images overwhelm me again.” She added she has “spells of uncontrollable crying. I have permanent shaking, nightmares that seem to haunt me whether I am awake or not. I am totally consumed by grief; I find it hard to face normal, everyday activities with the ease and gaiety of times past.” She also suffers insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks. Her husband has to wake her up in the middle of the night while she screams, to tell her it is only nightmares.

She cannot comprehend “how a person could do this to another human being. Yet I must live in this hideous aftermath that has sentenced me for life. Time will not heal these wounds, but perhaps ease the pain.”

Rachel was “funny, intelligent and had huge empathy for everyone. My life stopped on Feb. 27, 2012 … The impact of Rachel’s murder has been catastrophic. The loneliness and sadness I feel are enormous.” Rachel’s “sense of fun and adventure and her unquenchable thirst for life pulled me through difficult times and lifted me even higher in good times. Now, as I go through the worst time in my life, the person whose passion, intelligence and strength got me through before is no longer there to help me with this struggle.”

Her daughter asks, “‘Are you sad because that evil man killed Rachel?’ I have to reply to her, ‘Yes, honey, he did.’ That is heartbreaking and it is heartbreaking for me to know that Rachel’s kids will grow up without their wonderful, loving mother whom adored her children.”

Prosecutor Lisette Suder told the court that the day was “filled with many mixed emotions.” She was thankful justice had been served, and relieved that Winkler would “no longer be able to harm any other innocent lives.” She said she hoped Rachel’s loved ones “find closure and some peace” through Todd’s sentencing.

She was also disgusted how, through the trial and even now, Todd “tries to lie, deceive and manipulate us all.” He showed no remorse or accountability for his actions. Not of “how he went in to her room to kill her,” finding Rachel “cowering in the corner, holding their young son.” He spent 30 minutes waiting for her to die from blood loss. He manipulated the crime scene, inflicting injuries on himself in an attempt to support his story. “He is a mastermind, manipulator and murderer.”

Defense attorney David Weiner had little to say during the hearing, focusing on parts of the probation report he believed to be wrong. The judge noted his objections to the report and ordered a transcript of that part of the hearing to accompany the report.

“There’s no question,” Weiner said, that Todd Winkler had “lost the most precious things in life: children, his wife, freedom. He is sad beyond measure, though he may not express as how others want, but it exists.”

Winkler himself spoke only briefly. “I feel deep remorse for what has happened. For Rachel’s family, my family and our children.”

Judge Melikian said that he was “glad to finally hear you express some remorse.” Rachel was, “by all accounts, a wonderful person, mother, daughter, sister and friend,” he said. “You tried to set yourself up as the victim.” There was “devastating emotional damage on those who knew” Rachel. “Despite efforts to paint yourself as the victim … Rachel is the victim. Her mother, father, three brothers, many friends — they are the victims in this case. Not you; them.”

He then sentenced Winkler to a total of 26-years-to-life on a charge of first-degree murder and an enhancement of using a deadly weapon — scissors. “That is quite reasonable under the circumstances,” the judge commented. “Mr. Winkler, good luck. We are adjourned.”

James White, who wrote an impact statement but did not speak during the hearing, was glad the trial was over and Winkler would be going to prison. The man who was to marry Rachel after her divorce from Todd said he would be looking up the Winkler children in 12 years to tell them “how beautiful Rachel was.” He waved goodbye to Todd as the convicted murderer was led to an elevator.

His daughter, Katelynn, said she was “Happy, not satisfied” with the sentencing. “I appreciate what the judge said.” She said that “Rachel will no longer be the caged animal; Todd will have the luxury of taking her position.”

Don Hatfield told jurors outside the courtroom that Weiner had tried to spin a “magnificent tale” of what happened. “Well, he tried, it will not hold up” on appeal, he said.

“It’s a tragic thing,” Weiner said after the hearing. “He admitted what he had done,” he said of Winkler, “right at the beginning, to the officer (at the scene).” He had tried to “present true facts. Now we’re accused of trashing her; we presented information we believe accurate.”

The family is “aggrieved. It’s a tragic situation all the way around — family, Todd, the community, the kids.”

In a written statement, District Attorney Vern Pierson wrote, “After such a tragic and senseless murder, I can only hope that Rachel’s family and friends can find some resolve in knowing the person responsible for Rachel’s death has been held accountable. Though no amount of prison time could be enough, Todd Winkler was sentenced to the maximum amount of time provided by law. This is one example of the criminal justice system working flawlessly.”