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   Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
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Rhune
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Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« on: Jul 26th, 2006, 8:09pm »
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Yates not guilty by reason of insanity
Ex-husband: 'She was psychotic' when she drowned their children
 
Wednesday, July 26, 2006; Posted: 4:56 p.m. EDT (20:56 GMT)  
 
(CNN) -- A jury on Wednesday found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity of drowning her five children in a bathtub five years ago.
 
The verdict, reached after nearly 13 hours of deliberation over three days in Houston, means Yates will be committed to a state mental facility in Texas until she is deemed to be no longer a threat.
 
Yates showed no immediate response as the verdict was read and the jurors polled individually.  
 
The 42-year-old defendant then hugged one of her attorneys, George Parnham, who had argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time of the drownings on June 20, 2001.
 
Her former husband and father of the victims, Russell Yates, who has since remarried, exclaimed, "Oh, wow!" and became teary, Court TV reported.
 
"We're happy," Russell Yates told reporters outside the courthouse. "To me, this is really about Andrea's quality of life for the balance of her life. Is she going to spend her time in a prison cell with barely adequate medical treatment and no interaction with other people and family members or is she going to spend time in a hospital and get good medical treatment and have hope of a possibly somewhat normal life later?"
 
Andrea Yates' mental illness predated the killings. She had been on anti-psychotic medication and attempted suicide before killing Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, 6 months.
 
In 2002 a jury rejected Yates' insanity defense and sentenced her to life in prison for the deaths of three of the five children.
 
But a state appeals court overturned the convictions because an expert witness for the state, a psychiatrist, testified incorrectly that the television series "Law and Order" had shown an episode about a woman suffering from postpartum depression who drowned her children.
 
Russell Yates said the prosecution failed to understand "that Andrea was ordinarily a loving mother who fell to this disease and did an unthinkable act."
 
He added, "Yes, Andrea took the lives of our children. That's the truth. But also, yes, she was insane. Yes, she was psychotic on that day. That's the whole truth."
 
He said the state "never attempted to get to the whole truth."
 
He said he was proud of the jury for reaching its finding in Harris County, Texas -- "the death-penalty capital of the world."
 
Russell Yates rejected criticism that he should have known his wife was a danger to their children.  
 
"We took her to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist failed us," he said.
 
Russell Yates said he was planning to visit his ex-wife Wednesday night. He said he and Andrea Yates are "good friends" and often reminisce together about their children.
 
"They were our life, they were important to us," he said.
 
"She needs help," one juror told reporters. "I think she will probably need treatment for the rest of her life."
 
Yates' attorney Wendell Odom expressed a similar view: "It's this simple: this lady never did anything wrong in her own life. She's mentally ill. She wakes up one morning, she drowns her five kids. Come on, we all know she's insane. It's a shame it took this long to finally get the right verdict."
 
But Harris County Assistant District Attorney Joe Owmby told reporters he was disappointed by the verdict.  
 
"Yates was not insane when she killed her children," he said. "She knew it was a sin, knew it was legally wrong and knew society would disapprove of her actions."
 
Still, he said, he would not recommend that the district attorney bring further charges related to the drownings.  
 
"The charges we filed were intended to conclude this case one way or another," Owmby said.
 
He said the heavy media coverage, including a series of editorial opinions in the local paper, "must have had an effect, in a general way, on the jury."
 
He said he was not accusing the jurors of not following instructions, "But they're human beings, and they have been living with this for the past five years."
 
In 30 days a hearing will be held to determine whether Yates represents a danger to herself or others and whether she will comply with a treatment plan.
 
Every year thereafter, a hearing before a judge or a jury will be held to decide whether she should be released into the community.
 
"The state is not going to be watching Andrea Yates," Owmby said. "This thing about her now being under supervision for the rest of her life is rather misleading."
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Rhune
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #1 on: Jul 26th, 2006, 8:17pm »
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In my heart, I feel this was the right outcome.  It's pretty unlikely she will be released any time soon, if ever, and she'll be on medication the rest of her life.  I personally think her husband should have been held more accountable for his part in jerking her in and out of therapy and on and off of medication, then leaving her alone with the children as she became noticeably unstable. He knew she was unstable, that's why he was sending his mother over to watch her each day!  At least he seemed to genuinely supported this verdict.
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #2 on: Jul 26th, 2006, 8:30pm »
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I agree, Rhune.  Someone said (don't know if it was one of her lawyers, or who it was) that when she's fully on her meds, she remembers what she did clearly, and she spirals back into madness.   I don't know if that's true or if she'll ever be "right".  I'm just glad she'll be in a mental hospital instead of prison.  In hindsight, I wonder if Rusty ever blames himself for wanting more children after being warned against it.
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Isle_be_back
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #3 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 12:00am »
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I think it's just wonderful that this woman can kill her 5 children and get away with it.  Sure, say she was insane.  Heck, you'ld have to be to kill your own children.  
 
Had it been her husband that had drown the kids, he would have been labeled evil and found guilty on 5 counts of murder and thrown in the electric chair as soon as the trial was over.   Then again, he wouldn't have been able to use "postpartum pyschosis", PMS or any other female related "illness" in his defense.
 
It's just amazing how much slack these murderers get, just because they're women.    Undecided
 
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Joab
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #4 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 12:11am »
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ExIsle, she didn't want to kill her 5 children. You just don't understand. I feel for her.
 
It's not because she's a woman and she can get away with this, she's sick and insane, you can't just throw her into the jail when she's not in her state of mind when she committed the crime.
 
She's going to live her life with the fact that she has murdered her own children, do you think she'll enjoy this privilage?
 
I don't think everyone can handle sarcasm, ExIsle.
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Isle_be_back
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #5 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 1:19am »
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Anybody that kills anybody ain't right in the head.  I'm jus' sayin' if it had been her husband under the same circumstances, do you think he would have been put in the looney bin?  I think not.  They would have called him a monster and thrown the book at him.    
 
Quote:
you can't just throw her into the jail when she's not in her state of mind when she committed the crime.
 
 
Why not?  There are crazy people in there now.  Just because you're nuts doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished for the crime you committed.      
 
Quote:
I don't think everyone can handle sarcasm, ExIsle.
 
 
 Roll Eyes
 
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Joab
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #6 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 1:27am »
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I have nothing more to say to you then.
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AmberJ
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #7 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 11:33am »
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While I am not one to agree with using insanity as a defence because it seems to take away from personal responsibility and sets bad precendents, I have read articles frmo this case and think it was the appropriate decision..
 
In response to exile, you seem to think that Andrea is getting away with murder which is not true at all. Getting away with murder would mean that she is allowed to live and function in society like a regular person. This, however, is not the case, Andrea will be spending quite a number of years in a Psychiatric ward/hospital, which some would say is worse than being in prison.  She perhaps has a bit more freedom than if she was in prison, but she is not exactly walking freely.
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #8 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 12:57pm »
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In some respects, she'll have less freedom than she would in prison.  There's a distinct difference between this woman, who killed her children because in a psychotic state she thought she was saving them by doing so, and say that bitch that strapped her kids into their car seats and sent them into the lake to drown so her new boyfriend would like her better.  Both are insane acts, but the motivation and the level of psychosis is so very different.  I don't like what Andrea Yates did and if I could have personally stopped her I would have, but I also feel as much pity for her as I do for her children.
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #9 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 1:54pm »
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on Jul 27th, 2006, 12:00am, ExIsle_be_back wrote:
Then again, he wouldn't have been able to use "postpartum pyschosis", PMS or any other female related "illness" in his defense.
 

 
I didn't realize you were a member here, Mr. Cruise.. but as soon as you actually HAVE Post partum or PMS, I'll be happy to discuss this with you... Wink
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luci
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Re: Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity
« Reply #10 on: Jul 27th, 2006, 2:08pm »
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on Jul 27th, 2006, 12:00am, ExIsle_be_back wrote:
I think it's just wonderful that this woman can kill her 5 children and get away with it.  Sure, say she was insane.  Heck, you'ld have to be to kill your own children.  
 
Had it been her husband that had drown the kids, he would have been labeled evil and found guilty on 5 counts of murder and thrown in the electric chair as soon as the trial was over.   Then again, he wouldn't have been able to use "postpartum pyschosis", PMS or any other female related "illness" in his defense.
 
It's just amazing how much slack these murderers get, just because they're women.    Undecided
 

 
It is obvious you are male!
Study about POST PARTUM DEPRESSION  
then post an opinion:
http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.post-partum.html
 
http://www.4woman.gov/faq/postpartum.htm
 
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/postpartumdepression.html
 
From what I read when this all happened, his Mother came over ONE HOUR each week.  
 Adrea did the grocery shopping in that 1 hour.
She had NO time for herself, home schooled, practiced his radical religion, gave in too his sex drive & had another baby, when the Doctor told Rusty he did  
NOT need to have another baby.
 
What I see wrong in all of this is that RUSTY YATES  
did NOT stand trial for his part in the killings & he is  
as guilty as she!!
 
Perhaps with this verdict more Family members will learn the warning signs & seek help for a young  
Mother who needs help, not their criticism for  
something she cannot help!
 
This is a wake up call to Doctors who have 'poo pooed'
a young Mother in trouble & to the Dads who only think of themself!
 
Now she will get the help she needs & possible  
do some good from all of this horrible deed!
 
I don't expect any man to understand this at all, with the exception of Tom Cruise & he knows everything!  
......just ask him!   Roll Eyes
« Last Edit: Jul 27th, 2006, 2:09pm by luci » IP Logged

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