Andrea Yates Not Guilty by reason of insanity in Retrial

[Brent88]

:mad:

[Chocoholic]

I'm disgusted by this verdict too, but I try to think of it this way: She still has to answer to God someday.

[MsOrange]

I wish I could puke on those Juror's shoes.

[Ireneparalegal]

SOURCE! SOURCE!!!! WTF???????????????????????????

DAMN B***CH!!!!!!!!

[sweetdiggity]

Not Guilty (http://www.courttv.com/trials/yates/072606_verdict2_ctv.html) ohno:

[Jonathan]

This is so shocking. :eek: Her poor children.

[KissMyGrits]

There was no justice today for Noah, Luke, Paul, John or Mary!! At least they are in a better place! They are with a Father that will always protect them and love them!! Rest in Peace children!!

[James"Thunder"Early]

Her mental illness did not cloud her judgement, she knew exactly what she was doing when she drowned those kids, the jury is stupid for not seeing that.

[Bobby F.]

She can be out in a year!!! A freakin' year!! After a year she gets' reviewed by her doctors and then a judge makes the final decission. Incredible. If she's mental then lock her up, get her treatment and let her serve out her sentence in the mental house.

[Bobby F.]

Another thing I never understood. Why is it that women with post-pardum depression always seem to hurt or kill someone else??? Why is it that they never harm themselves??? Sounds to me like just a good excuse for a lawyer to use....:rolleyes:

[Brad Russ]

I don't think Iv'e ever been as upset as I am right now over a jury's decision. I can't even express my anger right now, I'm that upset!!!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Ireneparalegal]

She can be out in a year!!! A freakin' year!! After a year she gets' reviewed by her doctors and then a judge makes the final decission. Incredible. If she's mental then lock her up, get her treatment and let her serve out her sentence in the mental house.
What they should have done was put her in the mental hospital first, THEN put her on trial after she became better and competent...this way, her ass would end up in prison for sure.

[Bobby F.]

What they should have done was put her in the mental hospital first, THEN put her on trial after she became better and competent...this way, her ass would end up in prison for sure.

That is a very good idea! Get her well then have her stand trial. Of course some lawyer would still say she was crazy when she did it and still get her off!!:mad: It's getting sickening the way no one ever stands up for their actions. Always some lawyer out there ready to get them off even when they're guilty.

[Ireneparalegal]

That is a very good idea! Get her well then have her stand trial. Of course some lawyer would still say she was crazy when she did it and still get her off!!:mad: It's getting sickening the way no one ever stands up for their actions. Always some lawyer out there ready to get them off even when they're guilty.
True.

[KissMyGrits]

As a mom, I am hurt and shocked. I have never hated a jury decision more than I do this one!! I don't think I was this upset at the OJ decision!! Jury's suck!!

[Lex Luthor]

When did "reasonable" get taken out of the beyond reasonable doubt equation?

If she did not know what she did was wrong like the jury is letting her get away with, then why did she call the police to inform them?

What a freekin joke

[Brad Russ]

I think the jury are the ones who should be going to the mental hospital. They must be mentally ill to make such a stupid decision.

[Ireneparalegal]

Yates Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity
By ANGELA K. BROWN, AP

HOUSTON (July 26) -- In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her children in the bathtub.

The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.

Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read, then bowed her head and wept quietly. Her relatives also shed tears, and the children's father, Rusty Yates, muttered, "Wow!" as he, too, cried.

Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving her the souls of her five children by killing them. An appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness.

Yates' chief attorney, George Parnham, called the verdict this time a "watershed event in the treatment of mental illness."

Wendell Odom, another of Yates' attorneys, suggested that attitudes have changed since the first trial: "Five years ago there were a lot of people who could not get past the anger of what happened."

Yates' 2002 conviction triggered debate over whether Texas' legal standard for mental illness was too rigid, whether the courts treated postpartum depression seriously enough, and whether a mother who kills could ever find sympathy and understanding in a tough-on-crime state like Texas.

Yates drowned 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah in their Houston-area home in June 2001. Her attorneys said she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, believed that Satan was inside her and that killing the youngsters would save them from hell.

"The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened," Rusty Yates, who divorced his wife last year, said outside the courthouse. "Yes, she was psychotic. That's the whole truth."

Prosecutors had maintained that Yates failed to meet the state's definition of insanity: that she was so severely mentally ill that she did not know her actions were wrong.

"I'm very disappointed," prosecutor Kaylynn Williford said. "For five years, we've tried to seek justice for these children."

Yates will be sent to Vernon State Mental Hospital, a prison-like maximum-security facility encircled by a 17-foot fence and guard towers. Experts say it can take decades before psychiatrists decide that a patient is healthy enough to be released, and even then a judge can reject those findings.

The jury, split evenly between men and women, deliberated for about 13 hours over three days. The jurors had not been told that Yates would be committed to a mental institution if found not guilty.

Yates did not testify. Her lawyers presented much of the same evidence as in the first trial, including half a dozen psychiatrists who testified that Yates was insane.

During a videotaped 2001 jail interview, Yates told a psychiatrist that her children had not been progressing normally because she was a bad mother, and that she killed them because "in their innocence, they would go to heaven."

The jury was told about Yates' two hospitalizations after two suicide attempts in 1999, and about her stays in a mental hospital a few months before the drownings.

But prosecution witness Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that Yates killed the youngsters because she felt overwhelmed and inadequate as a mother, not to save their souls. He said that it was not until a day after the killings that she talked about Satan and saving her children from hell.

Welner also said Yates showed that she knew her actions were wrong by waiting until her husband left for work to kill them, covering the bodies with a sheet and calling 911 soon after the crime.

Yates' 2002 conviction was overturned after Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, told the jury that before the drownings, NBC ran a "Law & Order" episode about a woman who was acquitted by reason of insanity after drowning her children. It was later learned that no such episode existed.


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

[Hollow]

Her mental illness did not cloud her judgement, she knew exactly what she was doing when she drowned those kids
that's not true. of course none of us can know for sure what was really going through her mind, but when an insane person is having a psychotic episode, they DON'T know what they're doing, and they can't help it.

but still, if she knew that she was insane, she shouldn't have been living with five children in the first place.

[Ireneparalegal]

that's not true. of course none of us can know for sure what was really going through her mind, but when an insane person is having a psychotic episode, they DON'T know what they're doing, and they can't help it.

but still, if she knew that she was insane, she shouldn't have been living with five children in the first place.
People who are insane, DON'T THINK THEY ARE INSANE...they think the rest of the world is.

Andrea Yates is NOT INSANE...SHE IS A MASS MURDERER.

[Stuck In The '70's]

This is sick. Those children get no justice. :mad:

[gilligan fanatic]

People who are insane, DON'T THINK THEY ARE INSANE...they think the rest of the world is.

Andrea Yates is NOT INSANE...SHE IS A MASS MURDERER.

:clap:

[Janice]

I don't care if she's insane or not. She should never ever see the light of day again.

I remember when this happened, I read a news account that stated that the older boy, who was seven, knew what was happening, and he tried to escape. The psychobitch chased him through the house. He was the last to die. My eyes just filled up writing that.

[strawberry cupcake]

i think this is messed up and i hope andrea yates burns in hell for all eternity.

i also think if she ever gets out someone is going to murder her ho-ass. may god have mercy on her soul and the soul of the stupid juror's who said 'not guilty'

RIP yates children. :crying:

[Brad Russ]

I remember when this happened, I read a news account that stated that the older boy, who was seven, knew what was happening, and he tried to escape. The psychobitch chased him through the house. He was the last to die. My eyes just filled up writing that.

Oh my gosh, just reading that, and picturing that little boy running for his life, just gave me the saddest feeling in the world. How that jury can visualize that poor little boy running for his life, and still give her a not guilty verdict, is absolutely sickening!!!!!

[Brian]

I hope those members of the jury burn in Hell. Even though the "not guity by reason of insanity" isn't a get out of jail free card, there is no justice here. I hope she stays in a hospital for the rest of her life but I cannot forsee that happening.

This is setting a very bad precedent. I fear that there will be an "Andrea Yates" defense where defendants will claim that post-partum depression clouded their judgment.

[Bobby F.]

I'm not understanding Rusty Yates way of thinking on this. He's happy that they found her crazy so that she won't spend her life in jail. If he says that she was and is crazy then that can make him guilty of negligent homocide. If he knew she was crazy and he left her with the children he is guilty. If she killed the children just to kill them then he can't be involved. He was a work when it happened. He is setting himself up for trouble.

[Janice]

I'm not understanding Rusty Yates way of thinking on this. He's happy that they found her crazy so that she won't spend her life in jail. If he says that she was and is crazy then that can make him guilty of negligent homocide. If he knew she was crazy and he left her with the children he is guilty. If she killed the children just to kill them then he can't be involved. He was a work when it happened. He is setting himself up for trouble.
Rusty Yates holds a lot of responsibility for this. After they had their fourth child, Andrea went through a terrible episode with post partem depression, and was hospitalized several times. Her doctor strongly advised them not to have any more children. They had a fifth baby anyway.

She was in a bad way. She used to stay in bed all day scratching bald spots into her head, and picking scabs in her nose. She needed help.

I'm not defending her, but as you say Bobby, her husband knew she was off her rocker. He was the sane one, supposedly.

[Ireneparalegal]

Anyone know why she was charged and convicted of ONLY 3 OF HER CHILDRENS' MURDER and not ALL FIVE? i can't find any info on this.

[ABlairican Pie]

Why is it that anyone who kills their kids to "protect them from Satan" gets off the hook?? I have heard about so many psycho moms who have used this stupid alibi over the years. How does a person who did this make them INNOCENT??? She's a PSYCHO BITCH FROM HELL!!!! :mad: She KILLED children, and would kill again!!!!!!! Where's the justice for the kids in this case??

[Brad Russ]

Why is it that anyone who kills their kids to "protect them from Satan" gets off the hook?? I have heard about so many psycho moms who have used this stupid alibi over the years. How does a person who did this make them INNOCENT??? She's a PSYCHO BITCH FROM HELL!!!! :mad: She KILLED children, and would kill again!!!!!!! Where's the justice for the kids in this case??

Exactly!!! That defense is one of the biggest piles of horse sh*t I have ever heard, yet women do seem to get off alot with it. The only reason I say women, is because no guy would ever get away with something like this, whether he made that claim or not. Jury's never have any sympathy for guys who murder, as they shouldn't, but they shouldn't for women either.

[ABlairican Pie]

It's like the idea that "how could anyone commit such a horrible, heinous murder?? A person who did something like that could only be insane!" So because the person wasn't thinking with a right mind in committing such a crime, the only conclusion is that, THEY'RE INSANE, and therefore not guilty, because they "couldn't help what they were doing!" We don't want to fry people who are not really responsible mentally, do we?? It's like executing a retarded person or some other case, it wouldn't be "right", not PC! :nonono: :rolleyes:

[T_ID]

Why a mental hospital and no prison sentence? Why not first a mental hospital and after that's done a prison sentence? :confused:

[Dr. Thong]

Whether sane, insane or whatever, she killed FIVE children. She should be put to death immediately.

[KissMyGrits]

Why a mental hospital and no prison sentence? Why not first a mental hospital and after that's done a prison sentence? :confused:
Because, Unfortunately if one is judged to be not guilty by reason of insanity then they supposedly did not know what they were doing at the time and can't be held accountable. Therefore no jail sentence. It really sucks that this jury was stupid enough to believe this defense. I hope to God these jurors think about this decision every day of their lives. And how they denied justice for these children. It is a sad day in America.

[Bobby F.]

Rusty Yates holds a lot of responsibility for this. After they had their fourth child, Andrea went through a terrible episode with post partem depression, and was hospitalized several times. Her doctor strongly advised them not to have any more children. They had a fifth baby anyway.

She was in a bad way. She used to stay in bed all day scratching bald spots into her head, and picking scabs in her nose. She needed help.

I'm not defending her, but as you say Bobby, her husband knew she was off her rocker. He was the sane one, supposedly.

If that's the case then he should be brought up on charges of negligent homicide or involuntary injury to a child. He left those children in a dangerous situation. And if she's wacko she needs to be locked up and treated and needs to serve out her sentence.

[Bobby F.]

Anyone know why she was charged and convicted of ONLY 3 OF HER CHILDRENS' MURDER and not ALL FIVE? i can't find any info on this.


The way I understand it was just incase the charges got thrown out they could come back and charge her on the other two. But since they found her crazy on the first 3 then there's no reason to charge her with the other 2.

[T_ID]

Because, Unfortunately if one is judged to be not guilty by reason of insanity then they supposedly did not know what they were doing at the time and can't be held accountable. Therefore no jail sentence. It really sucks that this jury was stupid enough to believe this defense. I hope to God these jurors think about this decision every day of their lives. And how they denied justice for these children. It is a sad day in America.
She'd have to be far gone to not know anything she's done. Where I live, when you're a nutter and you commit a crime, beit rape, murder etc, grave crimes, there is a special form of mental hospital which is also a prison at the same time. First a convict serves the prison sentence, then they go to the mental institition that attempts to cure them of whatever the problem in their behaviour was.

And here comes the best part: Unless they are cured they are not released, so for uncurable cases it always works as life-in-prison, even if they didn't get it at their trial already. No juror screwups at that here either, so I guess it's a very good solution.

[felicitylen]

This world is screwed up and so are some of its values.