SELMER, Tenn. — A jury of four men and 12 women was selected Wednesday in the murder trial of a former schoolteacher accused of killing her pastor husband.

The jury will be sequestered for the duration of Mary Winkler's first-degree murder trial for the death of her husband, Matthew Winkler, pastor of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tenn.

Winkler, 33, faces 51 years in prison before she is eligible for parole if convicted of shooting her husband as he lay in bed the morning of March 22, 2006.

During the three days of questioning from defense lawyers and prosecutors, phrases such as "spousal abuse," "brainwashed" and "fog of war" marked the tone of jury selection in a community where every potential juror admitted to knowledge of the case.

Through questions from Winkler's lawyers about battered wife syndrome and posttraumatic stress disorder, a picture began to emerge of the defendant as an abused spouse whose role as a minister's wife elevated her status in the community while isolating her from it within a "fishbowl."

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Her lawyers suggested that her situation rendered her incapable of seeking help or escaping the abusive marriage.

"Do you all agree with me that people, especially women, will live in an abusive relationship for a variety of reasons?" Winkler's lawyer, Steve Farese Sr., asked the potential panelists Tuesday. "Do you agree that in a family, with a husband and with a wife, we never really know what goes on behind closed doors?"

Co-counsel Leslie Ballin suggested that Winkler might have stayed in the relationship to protect their three daughters and her husband's reputation in the community.

"[Ministers' wives] really don't have many people to talk to," Ballin told the panel Tuesday. "If you talk bad about the preacher, it might cost him his pulpit."

Two prospective female panelists who said they were once victims of domestic violence agreed that abandoning the abusive relationships was not as easy as it seemed.

"Was the physical abuse worse than the emotional abuse?" Ballin asked the woman.

"Not really," she answered as the defendant, dressed in a blue blouse and black suit, listened intently. "About the same."

One of the women was selected to serve on the panel.

Wearing a cross necklace and a gold band on her left ring finger, Winkler paid close attention, often taking notes and conferring with her attorneys. She has been out on $750,000 bond since August.

Prosecutors who seemed concerned about bias in favor of the defendant questioned the prospective jurors on their ability to remain impartial despite the local and national notoriety the case has attained.

"Would you have any sympathy for someone just by virtue of the fact that she is a man or a woman?" assistant attorney general Walt Freeman asked the prospective panelists Tuesday. "Does everybody understand that Mary Winkler is to be treated no better, no worse than anyone else charged in a criminal case?"

Several jurors admitted they were unable to set aside opinions they had formed as a result of media coverage or conversations in "coffee shops or beauty shops." They were excused from the pool.

Throughout the three days of jury selection, the court encountered several situations typical of searching for a jury in a small town. Selmer, where the Winklers lived, has about 4,500 people, while the surrounding county has about 24,000.

On Monday, a potential female juror who lived near the Winklers said Matthew Winkler once threatened to shoot her dog. Three other jurors said they were patients of Dr. Drew Eason, one of the people who first discovered Matthew Winkler's body after the pastor failed to show up for service.

One of those jurors admitted he was inclined to give the doctor more credence than a regular witness, considering his relationship with him.

"He's never lied to me," the man told the court. He was dismissed from the pool.

Congregants from Matthew Winkler's church found him dead from a gunshot wound to the back in his parsonage bedroom. His wife and their three daughters were gone.

Prosecutors say she shot him in cold blood after he confronted her over a check-kiting scheme in which she had allegedly become entangled.

The following day, authorities arrested Winkler in Alabama after she allegedly confessed to shooting her husband.

While Winkler's lawyers have not disputed that she fired the gun, their questions and statements suggested that the weapon might have gone off accidentally.

One female juror agreed with Farese's statement that, because of their unfamiliarity with guns, women often accidentally discharge firearms.

Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday. The trial will be streamed live on Court TV Extra.