Andrea Yates-Not guilty due to insanity

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

I agree with the verdict. Just because she may be lucid and "sane" while in court, doesn't mean that she was lucid and sane while the crime was being committed. Clearly she responds well to medication and has to live with the gravity of the deed she committed. That will always be her own personal, living hell. I do feel sorry for her.

Perfectly said.

 

[Princess89]

I'm just happy the prosecutor held back on 2 of the murders. Just by chance the woman is released from the mental institution there is still the other 2 children that she can be prosecuted for, and sent back to prison. I agree the woman needs help, but this verdict gives her the chance to be released where as if she was found guilty she could not be paroled. Since they can't sterilize her or force her to not bear children anymore she could go through this ordeal again, and kill even more children. Which in the end is why I am glad they didn't prosecute for all 5 murders and attach double jeopardy. Because there is always that slim chance that she will be released within the next 5-10 years. Just my opinion here.

 

[NewJersey]

She should rot in a windowless cell for the rest of her pathetic life.

 

[TheDoctor]

I'm just happy the prosecutor held back on 2 of the murders. Just by chance the woman is released from the mental institution there is still the other 2 children that she can be prosecuted for, and sent back to prison. I agree the woman needs help, but this verdict gives her the chance to be released where as if she was found guilty she could not be paroled. Since they can't sterilize her or force her to not bear children anymore she could go through this ordeal again, and kill even more children. Which in the end is why I am glad they didn't prosecute for all 5 murders and attach double jeopardy. Because there is always that slim chance that she will be released within the next 5-10 years. Just my opinion here.

This gives the DA a chance to urge the death penalty again and the try for another conviction with a death penalty qualified jury. The major difference between the two trials is that this jury was not death penalty qualified and therefore was more willing to look at the evidence. The decision to only charge on three of the kids was for the DA to keep the right to have two attempts to convict Andrea Yates.

I hope that the DA will drop this matter now. Just one of the expert witnesses for the state cost Harris County over $200,000. Ms. Yates needs to be treated.

 

[aquinas]

This woman is just plain sick. She needs to be treated. Her husband is a co-conspirator in all this. I think he needs to be held liable for the children's deaths as well. He knew she was sick and yet did little to nothing.

The case that I am still fuming about is Susan Smith. She is the one that deserved the death penalty. But they made her look like a victim during her trial and played to the sympathies of the jurors. Can you imagine what would have happened if it really was a black man that car-jacked, kidnapped, and then killed her children?

Andrea Yates got the sentence she deserved. This woman is clearly insane.

 

[DawnCt1]

Hell yes she's crazy. I never doubted that for a minute. But then, so was Jeffry Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Jim Jones, Charles Manson(yes, I know he never actually killed anybody), etc.

There was no evidence that any of those men you mentioned were crazy. They clearly had character disorders but I feel everyone of them knew exactly what they were doing and did what they did because of their prurient nature.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I agree with the verdict. Just because she may be lucid and "sane" while in court, doesn't mean that she was lucid and sane while the crime was being committed. Clearly she responds well to medication and has to live with the gravity of the deed she committed. That will always be her own personal, living hell. I do feel sorry for her.

I agree with you

 

[eclectics]

As long as she's put away where she can never have any more children, I have no problem with her being institutionalized. If she starts to try to get released in a short period of time, the warning flags should go up. I think it should be for life with no release possible. As for her husband, I have heard him on many talk shows. I don't believe he meant to put his children in harms way, but he is not the sharpest tool in the shed either.

 

[freckles and boo]

She was, and may still be, profoundly ill. I believe her husband set her up for failure by creating a situation she couldn't handle or escape. What no one has mentioned is the "spiritual-leader" that seemed to have an inordinate control over the way they were living at the time. He, as well as Rusty Yates, should be considered negligent, if not complicit. I believe the jury got it right this time.

 

[DawnCt1]

She was, and may still be, profoundly ill. I believe her husband set her up for failure by creating a situation she couldn't handle or escape. What no one has mentioned is the "spiritual-leader" that seemed to have an inordinate control over the way they were living at the time. He, as well as Rusty Yates, should be considered negligent, if not complicit. I believe the jury got it right this time.

I think it must be very difficult living with someone who is so severely ill. No one is crazy however 24 hours a day. They have their reasonable moments. I think perhaps, that while living in the thick of it, he didn't notice her slipping deeper or thought perhaps she was better than she actually was. Some of that could have been wishful thinking or just being overwhelmed with the day to day issues. I can remember taking a patient out for lunch after she had earned enough points. She was diagnosed with borderline personality. On the unit she looked pretty good and when compared to some other patients, she looked darned good. Only when I had her out to lunch in the real world did she actually not look very well. The most notable feature was her extremely flat affect that wasn't that noticible until she was out with "normal people". I think perhaps Rusty didn't see the forest for the trees and was in his own world of denial.

 

[inaminute]

I cannot believe this.

A woman drowns her five children. How old was the eldest--seven?

AND IT'S PERFECTLY O.K????????

These posts are all about "poor Andrea." Poor Andrea couldn't have known what she was doing. Poor Andrea had no support. Poor Andrea was suffering from PPD. Poor Andrea. Poor Andrea. Poor Andrea.

PUHLEEEZ!

Everyone here wants someone to take responsibility--as long as it isn't the person who committed the crime. Her husband is at fault...her mother is at fault...her "spiritual leader" is at fault...why not just blame the children? Heck, they must have done something to drive her over the edge.

You know who I blame? Every single person who thinks it's acceptable for a monster to claim "insanity" when they commit a heinous crime. Every time we make excuses and accept their crime, we make it easier for others to commit the same crime and use the same excuse until it's so common we don't even notice it any more.

I'm sorry, I simply cannot get the thought of those poor babies out of my mind. To think the person they trusted most--their mother--would do this. I can't imagine the terror the older children must have felt. It brings tears every time I think about it.

That woman should be on death row. I don't care how "sick" she is. Just the thought that she's still breathing makes me ill. And, it makes me furious that she may have an opportunity to walk free one day.

This verdict was wrong. Period.

The only satisfaction I get out of this is the hope that she and her lawyers will rot in hell one day.

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

I agree with the comments regarding her husband. I always felt he set her up and should have been held as accountable as she was.

As for Andrea, insane or not, she will suffer for the rest of her life and then some.

 

[yeartolate]

I cannot believe this.

A woman drowns her five children. How old was the eldest--seven?

AND IT'S PERFECTLY O.K????????

For the love of God,who said it was perfectly ok?

 

[aquinas]

Looks like one poster needs to claim temporary insanity for their rant

 

[jennobrn01]

That will always be her own personal, living hell.

This is so true. I cannot imagine the anguish she must experience daily. Her husband too for that matter. Receiving care in a psychiatric facility does seem best for her. I agree that it should have a no release clause. Even though psych care is radically different today; I can't help but think of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest...yikes.

 

[TinkInPink]

Sorry but anyone who can defend them selves and can go to court know whats going on etc. is not Mentally insane. i disagree with the verdict. She took the Lives of her youg children who had futures, while she will go to a mental institution and live out her life. I say she deserves to be drowned in a bathtub.

 

[momrek06]

I agree with the comments regarding her husband. I always felt he set her up and should have been held as accountable as she was.

As for Andrea, insane or not, she will suffer for the rest of her life and then some.

ITA ...Andrea's penance will be the daily thoughts of her 5 beautiful children constantly running through her mind 24/7. And I agree the husband should have taken some of the blame for this in the area of neglect.

 

[lookingforward]

Sorry but anyone who can defend them selves and can go to court know whats going on etc. is not Mentally insane. i disagree with the verdict. She took the Lives of her youg children who had futures, while she will go to a mental institution and live out her life. I say she deserves to be drowned in a bathtub.

I was at the Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas last summer and her forensic psychiatrist gave a seminar about her case. He showed us video of Andrea shortly after the murders and she was profoundly psychotic and delusional. She was as sick mentally as anyone could get.

Just because her lawyers put on a good defense and she is well medicated NOW does not mean she was not criminally insane when the murders occured. It has taken YEARS to balance her on medications and she is still very ill.

Her ex-husband does share some of the blame because Andrea had already been diagnosed mentally ill and was in deep trouble Before the murders. Her husband knew this because he had his mom helping her because of her inability to function. Clearly he should have had her hosptialized. But he didn't and she was allowed to get worse. Mental illness is just as valid and serious as cancer and although it is not an excuse it is, in very limited cases, the cause of violence. The not guilty by reason of insanity is the hardest thing to establish in any court. I pity Andrea because her life is and will be a living hell for the rest of her life. Even if she eventually gets well (and that is doubted) she will then have the cognitive ability to realize what she has done.

 

[TheDoctor]

You know who I blame? Every single person who thinks it's acceptable for a monster to claim "insanity" when they commit a heinous crime. Every time we make excuses and accept their crime, we make it easier for others to commit the same crime and use the same excuse until it's so common we don't even notice it any more.

I disagree. First the Texas standard for the insanity defense is very tight and hard to prove. The fact that the jury found Andrea Yates not guilty means that it was proved that she did not know what she was doing.

Second, the insanity defense is a part of a civilized society. Civilized societies do not punish people who are not responsible for their behavior due to mental illness. Andrea Yates was seriously sick by all accounts and satisfy the test for insanity under Texas law. Would you want to punish an 8 year old or someone else who is presumed by the law as not being responsible for their actions?

I am proud that the law was followed and that Andrea Yates was found not guilty due to insanity. This was a just and proper verdict.

 

[scraptoons]

If the husband were to be charged, would it be manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide or what?

He and the mother-in-law should have never left her alone with those kids even for a second, knowing how bad she was. Let alone pushing for more kids without doing everything or finding out what he could do for his wife.

The whole thing still breaks my heart as much as it did when the murders happened. And to think that there may still be people out there like this, putting their kids in danger.