As far as I know, Susan Smith was tried and convicted of her crimes and remains in prison, where she belongs. I don't believe anyone has ever blamed her husband for the death of their children...if anything, I have only heard sympathy for her husband.
To the best of my knowledge, Susan Smith had no documented history of mental illness, as is the case with Andrea Yates. Susan Smith was purely and simply evil, and is paying the price for her crimes. Her sons and husband were the victims of her crimes. You're comparing apples to oranges and it doesn't work.
If you read the summary that Jennymom provided, it gives a pretty clear picture of the level of mental illness that Andrea Yates was suffering from. I am not excusing her. I believe that she should remain locked up for the rest of her life. However, as a spouse, you have an obligation to protect your spouse. You have an obligation to "be the brains" in the marriage if, for some reason, your spouse is unable to do so. Andrea was failed by the system...very true. She was also failed by her husband, because he didn't notice, didn't understand, or wanted to deny that she was as ill as she was. Walk a mile in his shoes...I have. I, and the rest of my extended family, have dealt with alcoholic family members who were so bad that they were a danger to themselves and others, and yes, our family fought and fought to get them admitted to a facility where they would be watched, cared for, and not left to their own devices. It wasn't easy and it took a long time, and there was a lot of angst in between, but it was our responsibility to take care of it, and we did. We recognized that someone who was drunk at 8AM was unable to be responsible for themselves or their behavior, so right or wrong, fair or unfair, we took respponsibility for their behavior, got them off the road so they wouldn't try and drive and kill someone, got them admitted to a treatment facility and later to a long-term placement. Did they like it? No. Were they pissed as all hell at us for a long time? Yes. But you know what, they also didn't kill an innocent person while driving drunk, they didn't get found laying dead somewhere frozen to death beacuse they collapsed outside in the cold drunk, they didn't get found beaten up somewhere because they were drunk and didn't know what happened to them.
Sorry folks, but Rusty missed the boat on this one. He shirked his responsibility to be the one to take care of things. He was told at baby 3 not to have any more. He should have had a vasectomy. Yes, without Andrea's consent or permission. His wife had documented mental illness. He should not have believed her when she said she was capable of handling things. She spent time catatonic, she spent time not eating, she spent time not speaking. That behavior had to be hard to miss. He should not have let her homeschool. He had a responsibility to her as well as those children. He evaded his responsibility.
When someone can't handle something, the people who can handle it must handle it. And it has nothing to do with right, wrong, fair, unfair, whose "job" it is or isn't or anything else. Someone has to take the bull by the horns, do the right thing and cope.
