Andrea Yates Getting New Trial

[CharlesTD]

Because there are just some decisions we make as a society that have absolutely nothing to do with money. Bill Bennett got in trouble for trying to explain that....

Ah well I think it is a waste of money to keep her around but that is just me.

 

[Feralpeg]

I only hope none of the people on this thread ever have to face mental illness either personally or through a family member. The lack of compassion I see toward the mentally ill just makes me sick, as do the holier than thou attitudes of those that have never been in such a situation. It is much easier to condem someone than try to understand them.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I only hope none of the people on this thread ever have to face mental illness either personally or through a family member. The lack of compassion I see toward the mentally ill just makes me sick, as do the holier than thou attitudes of those that have never been in such a situation.

The whole "well if you don't agree with me you must not be compassionate and you must not have any experience in this subject" arguement.

Frankly, you know nothing about my life experiences and to assume that everybody who has dealt with mental illness will automatically agree with your viewpoint -- just is not true.

I agree that Andrea Yates was and is a very ill person from everything that I read. But I read article after article on this case before, during and after the trial. I honestly believe that she was desperately ill during the time period- but also quite aware that her actions toward her children constituted murder and also that murder is wrong. That is the legal standard applied.

Quite honestly, courtrooms as a general rule have very little compassion toward Murder and especially a person who killed 5 children. I was quite comfortable with her original verdict and sentence. I felt that they were fair.
If the case goes to trial again, my opinion is the outcome will most likely be similar.

 

[CharlesTD]

I only hope none of the people on this thread ever have to face mental illness either personally or through a family member. The lack of compassion I see toward the mentally ill just makes me sick, as do the holier than thou attitudes of those that have never been in such a situation. It is much easier to condem someone than try to understand them.

My great grandfather had what is called shell shock after the war he was in the military in England and agian for Canada when tehy moved here he was seriously ill with mental health problems. They locked him up in the Vetrans hospital so he didn't hurt any of his kids or himself he would have violent visions and dreams and flashbacks of the war. SO I have seen it and it wasn't pretty at all he finally took his own life while in the hospital.

 

[JennyMominRI]

Oh I agree but putting somone inteh hospital for many many years that has killed her children is costing you more than an execution would in the long run IMHO so my feeling is why waste that much money over the long period when you can cull the mentally unstable lady from the herd and be done with it.

Charles actually it isn't.It costs 3 times more to execute someone than it does to keep them locked up for life

 

[JennyMominRI]

I only hope none of the people on this thread ever have to face mental illness either personally or through a family member. The lack of compassion I see toward the mentally ill just makes me sick, as do the holier than thou attitudes of those that have never been in such a situation. It is much easier to condem someone than try to understand them.

Hey,I'm not doing that at all... I think she was horribly failed..By nearly everyone from the medical community to the courts

 

[Feralpeg]

You are right. I know nothing about your personal situations. I would not even attempt to judge you. I'm sorry if I insulted you. You are also right that she committed murder. My statement was a reaction to the statements made by some of the posters who I thought showed no compassion at all. The "Let's Just Kill Her" mentality. I'm sorry, that's not me. I don't understand that mentality. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm willing to say that, but I just don't feel that we have the right to judge this person when we really don't know what she went through or is going through now. Thanks, I'm done! I should never read these types of threads.

 

[birdiesunshine]

She is a mentally ill woman who needs to be in a mental hospital! Her husband should be in prison. He's the one who needed to keep breeding with her while he knew of her mental condition.

 

[Charade]

Yes I do. That woman needs to be in a hospital getting the help she needs. I never thought she should go to prison.

Then what?

 

[JennyMominRI]

Then what?

Never,ever released

 

[Charade]

WE HAVE GOT TO FIGURE OUT A BETTER WAY TO DETERMINE WHO IS NUTS ENOUGH TO KILL THEIR KIDS AND EITHER TREAT THEM OR TAKE THE KIDS AWAY BEFORE IT HAPPENS!!!

So... should we have a screening process for prospective birth parents like we have for adoptive parents?

 

[marybet]

Then what?

She will never be released. Some of you may not believe it but I think the woman is devastated by what she did, when she is aware of what she did.

She killed her children because the voices in her head told her to. She didn't do it like Susan Smith so she could be with another man, she didn't do it because she hated her children, she didn't do it to get insurance money, she did it because she is mentally ill.

I think we need a choice of guilty because of insanity. They get sent to a hospital and if they are ever cured then they go to jail to serve their sentence. Putting a mentally ill person in prison and not trying to help them is just wrong.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I've said it before, she doesn't belong in prison. She belongs in a mental health facility. If she ever truly recovered and could live with the guilt I would even support her being in society in a monitored way. The guilty people in this case will never be punished. I believe somebody with a mental illness should be given help.

 

[janette]

The news tonight said there is talk of a deal that would put her in a mental hospital for the rest of her life. I really hope that is true. I do feel compassion for her, the pictures of her before and during trial are of a woman with no soul. The articles I read indicated that she believed her children were so damaged by her failings that the only way to save them was for them to die. What made her considered sane is that she knew her actions were illegal, not that she thought it was wrong. Sadly she probably knows that now.

 

[CharlesTD]

Charles actually it isn't.It costs 3 times more to execute someone than it does to keep them locked up for life

Hmm criminals up here must make much more than yours do in prison. Yes we actually do pay our criminals in prison it is measly ammounts but they do get paid plus they get paid on work release programs also it make me sick that I have to pay tax money that goes to these people especially people like Karla Homolka. I would lump her and this lady in teh same pot only Homolka was smart enough to use the husband as a sort of get out of jail free card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Homolka

 

[DONALD38]

She should not get a new trial and waist the courts time. She should of already been served a death sentence.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

She will never be released. Some of you may not believe it but I think the woman is devastated by what she did, when she is aware of what she did.

She killed her children because the voices in her head told her to. She didn't do it like Susan Smith so she could be with another man, she didn't do it because she hated her children, she didn't do it to get insurance money, she did it because she is mentally ill.

As for the shellshocked Grandfather that was hospitalized so he wouldn't harm others. That is exactly what has been lost in America, budget cuts closed down many mental hospitals and now the mentally ill have to fight hard for a slight chance of covered treatment just when they they are least competent.

One man was executed (i think it was in Texas), his family had begged for treatment for himbut was refused because there wasn't "proof" he was a danger to others. Then when he finally did kill, the evidence of his mental illness was denied to the jurors. Again it was schizophrenia.

 

[DawnCt1]

As for the shellshocked Grandfather that was hospitalized so he wouldn't harm others. That is exactly what has been lost in America, budget cuts closed down many mental hospitals and now the mentally ill have to fight hard for a slight chance of covered treatment just when they they are least competent.

One man was executed (i think it was in Texas), his family had begged for treatment for himbut was refused because there wasn't "proof" he was a danger to others. Then when he finally did kill, the evidence of his mental illness was denied to the jurors. Again it was schizophrenia.

During the Carter administration, a lot of the state mental facilities that housed the chronically ill were closed. The ACLU was quite active at that time upholding the very ill's civil rights, providing gratis lawyers and turning them out on the street. They now had the "right" to refuse their meds, hallucinate freely, panhandle, starve and freeze. DH was a medical student at the time. I recall the sad story of a bright, bipolar 22 year old in the manic phase. Her parents brought her to the ER begging for her to be hospitalized because she was "soliciting", spending money and at serious risk. A 72 hour hold was put on her with the hope of medicating and stablizing her so she could return to college. The ACLU attorney's came in and in 72 hours she was back on the street. This is just an example of hundreds of pts who were poorly served by the legal system.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

NO way! She killed her kids. KILLED THEM! No sympathy what so ever. Her kids will never get a second chance at life. Neither should she.

i kinda agree with this
i never understood this story
she KILLED her kids
they say she had issues but they kept having kids
i mean where was the Husband and her family
i hate his story
this woman will never get out of jail and doenst deserve to
i dont htink she should go to a hospital
let her get her help in jail

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I'm just wondering - those who think her Psychiatric illness is an excuse for the Murder.

If you were to search the Texas prison system, you will find many people who have been convicted for horrendous crimes with lots of baggage. Murderers with IQs that make it questionable whether or not they even understood they were on trial, long histories of sexual and physical abuse as children that severaly warped their views of right and wrong -- alcoholics and drug addicts who were so incapacitated at the time of their actions that they don't even remember walking into the bars that night.

In my opinion, very few people murder for no reason at all. In all their minds, however warped they may be, they THINK they have a good reason for their actions. In her case, Andrea Yates thought that by murdering her children before they became old enough to sin, she was saving them from Satan.

I'm just curious as to where people think the line should be drawn? The law dictates that the person must have the ability to determne right from wrong. When the Police showed up at the Yates house that day (after she had called them), she told them (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "yes, I murdered them. Yes, I know that Murder is wrong and I expect to be executed."

It is interesting to me that how over the years, the opinions of this case has softened. If you were to read a bulletin board directly after the case -- at a time when coverage was much more prominent -- there was a far greater feeling of anger toward her. It seems to me that as time passes, the images of the five children and what they sufferred have really taken a back seat to feelings of sympathy toward Yates herself.