Well, the reason she was waiting to do this is because the "cult" guy that was giving her religious instruction said that it was her responsibility to make sure her kids were all going to heaven. She, in her mental state, believed that she was a horrible mother and was dooming her children to hell because she couldn't make them holy. Thus, she thought she had to end their lives before the age of accountability approached. In her sick mind, she was saving their souls. So very sad. Rusty knew she was ill...and getting sicker every minute that passed. He had been told that having more children was a tremendous risk to Andrea. He didn't care. What a loser. He deserves to serve time in jail as well. God, I hope the fool doesn't have anymore children..though I know he will.:sick:IdahoMom said:
TX - Five Yates children drowned, Houston, 20 June 2001 *Insanity*
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I remember hearing that too, but my thing is she had been planning these murders if she was waiting for people to leave to do them, wouldnt that suggest that she was in her right mind enough to know what she was doing?IdahoMom said:
Jeana (DP)
Former Member
michelle said:
Yes, you're right. Rusty's mother had been coming to stay with her during the day because she was in such bad shape, they knew she couldn't care for the children properly. There was, I believe, about a 25-minute window of opportunity between the time Rusty left and his mother arrived.
She KNEW what she was doing was wrong, and that's where the wording of the laws in Texas comes into play. Hard for a jury to find her not guilty by reason of insanity if they properly apply the law. However, its long been my contention that the law is worded wrongly. Some states' laws say if a mental illness was the proximate cause of the crime, then the jury can consider the mental illness as a defense. Texas is long overdue in reviewing these laws, IMO.
I believe that is what they are asking for, or at least it was about 6 months ago. See..she is on a cycle. When they get her meds working, she realizes what she did...then goes off the deep end again. She will never recover. She is not an evil person, just a very VERY ill one. God bless her soul. Many people in her life contributed to this tragedy. Her husband for not listening to the doctor about having more children. Her shrink for taking her off some of the meds suddenly instead of weaning her off like you should do. The loser "cult" guy that was filling her sick head with bunk and caused her tremendous guilt. Those poor sweet babies. I know they a beautiful angels now. No, she needs not ever to be walking the streets free again. However, she needs attention that I don't believe she will get in a prison situation.blueclouds said:
Jeana (DP)
Former Member
deandaniellws said:I believe that is what they are asking for, or at least it was about 6 months ago. See..she is on a cycle. When they gets her meds working, she realizes what she did...then goes off the deep end again. She will never recover. She is not an evil person, just a very VERY ill one. God bless her soul. Many people in her life contributed to this tragedy. Her husband for not listening to the doctor about having more children. Her shrink for taking her off some of the meds suddenly instead of weaning her off like you should do. The loser "cult" guy that was filling her sick head with bunk and caused her tremendous guilt. Those poor sweet babies. I know they a beautiful angels now. No, she needs not ever to be walking the streets free again. However, she needs attention that I don't believe she will get in a prison situation.
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Very well said.
bugs
Former Member
deandaniellws said:I believe that is what they are asking for, or at least it was about 6 months ago. See..she is on a cycle. When they gets her meds working, she realizes what she did...then goes off the deep end again. She will never recover. She is not an evil person, just a very VERY ill one. God bless her soul. Many people in her life contributed to this tragedy. Her husband for not listening to the doctor about having more children. Her shrink for taking her off some of the meds suddenly instead of weaning her off like you should do. The loser "cult" guy that was filling her sick head with bunk and caused her tremendous guilt. Those poor sweet babies. I know they a beautiful angels now. No, she needs not ever to be walking the streets free again. However, she needs attention that I don't believe she will get in a prison situation.
Excellent post!!
Jeana (DP)
Former Member
"It's a good day," defense attorney George Parnham said. "The whole issue of mental health, specifically women's mental health, has been championed in this decision." (See video about Yates' new trial -- 3:05)
Parnham said a new trial is a mixed blessing, because Yates will have to relive the horror of her children's deaths, but added, "She needs to be found not guilty by reason of insanity."
Parnham told CNN he would try to strike a plea agreement that would send Yates to a mental health facility rather than prison.
"She has been told that she will be retried." She is not looking forward to a retrial, he said.
"She would gladly forgo this process," he said, "but you know, the right thing needs to be done here, and we're going to do it."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/09/andreayates.retrial/index.html
Parnham said a new trial is a mixed blessing, because Yates will have to relive the horror of her children's deaths, but added, "She needs to be found not guilty by reason of insanity."
Parnham told CNN he would try to strike a plea agreement that would send Yates to a mental health facility rather than prison.
"She has been told that she will be retried." She is not looking forward to a retrial, he said.
"She would gladly forgo this process," he said, "but you know, the right thing needs to be done here, and we're going to do it."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/09/andreayates.retrial/index.html
I'm not sure that meant she knew it was wrong - she just knew that they'd try to stop her.
I don't see her as much of a danger after some treatment. For her it's not a matter so much of the meds, as of never again being married to an idiot who tells her she's responsible for the children, having a ton of young children, living in a lousy trailer or whatever where there's a ton of work, and being overstressed, all at once. It was a bit of a perfect storm - the preacher who told her the children's souls were her responsibility, the depression, the uncaring husband who kept getting her pregnant knowing the risks to his wife, the lousy and stressful living conditions the husband insisted on, just everything. Take away any one of these items, and those kids would be alive and Andrea Yates would be no threat to anyone at all.
But she'll need probably a decade of therapy at the least in a hospital. I know what she did, but I feel sorry for her because I really don't think she would have done it had one person in her life shown the least bit of compassion or common sense. The doctors or the husband, possibly even the mother in law could have seen she was really sick, and taken care of her, and nothing would have happened. So very little was required to prevent this, and none of them did it. She was obviously sick enough she shouldn't have been left alone for 45 minutes! Even if they couldn't see what she would do to the children, it should have been obvious what she might do to herself (not that I think Rusty cared about that).
I agree with you Mushy :blowkiss:
Although, I am not sure how much help people get in these institutes and maybe prison would be a better envornment. (I have heard some horror stories about how patients are treated/mistreated)
Although, I am not sure how much help people get in these institutes and maybe prison would be a better envornment. (I have heard some horror stories about how patients are treated/mistreated)
Only4Justice
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IdahoMom said:
Oh, Idaho Mom, I was sick for months over the death of these children. That poor child. My heart is breaking again....
This is one sick woman. She will never be well. If she was to get well, she would have to face what she did. Who could face that?
IMO
PrayersForMaura
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Five mental health experts testified that Yates did not know right from wrong or that she thought drowning her children was right. Dietz was the only mental health expert to testify for the prosecution and the only one who testified she knew right from wrong.
While prosecutors agreed Yates was mentally ill, they argued that the illness was not severe enough to impede her ability to know right from wrong. Jurors agreed, and did not declare her legally insane.
Yates, 41, was sentenced to life in prison and is jailed at a psychiatric prison in East Texas.
In spite of the unlikelihood of a plea deal — in which Yates would plead guilty to the killings rather than not guilty by reason of insanity — there is one scenario that both the defense and the prosecution could agree to.
"The government would have to give up the ghost on seeking the death penalty, the sentence being life in an institution instead of in jail [with the rest of the prison population] without the possibility of parole," FOX News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told FOXNews.com. "That's the only guilty plea that would be acceptable."
Yates isn't currently housed with the general inmate population, and Napolitano said both sides would have to concur that she should spend the rest of her life in either a mental institution or a psychiatric prison without the chance of ever going free.
"The jury found that she is not a danger to anybody else, that she’s so crazy she couldn’t hurt a fly in jail," Napolitano told FOXNews.com.
But Texas prosecutors are elected, meaning they have to answer to voters.
"It's a rough-and-tumble, swaggering electorate who like to see the guilty punished to the max," Napolitano said. "I don't know that a plea deal is in the cards. It depends on the political wishes of the prosecutor."
The murders of the Yates children, the youngest a 6-month-old baby and the oldest a 7-year-old, horrified the country and became a high-profile instance of postpartum depression used in an insanity defense.
Yates' name has been frequently evoked in similar cases, most recently last month when a young mother dropped her three young children to their deaths in the San Francisco Bay.
More: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175041,00.html
While prosecutors agreed Yates was mentally ill, they argued that the illness was not severe enough to impede her ability to know right from wrong. Jurors agreed, and did not declare her legally insane.
Yates, 41, was sentenced to life in prison and is jailed at a psychiatric prison in East Texas.
In spite of the unlikelihood of a plea deal — in which Yates would plead guilty to the killings rather than not guilty by reason of insanity — there is one scenario that both the defense and the prosecution could agree to.
"The government would have to give up the ghost on seeking the death penalty, the sentence being life in an institution instead of in jail [with the rest of the prison population] without the possibility of parole," FOX News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told FOXNews.com. "That's the only guilty plea that would be acceptable."
Yates isn't currently housed with the general inmate population, and Napolitano said both sides would have to concur that she should spend the rest of her life in either a mental institution or a psychiatric prison without the chance of ever going free.
"The jury found that she is not a danger to anybody else, that she’s so crazy she couldn’t hurt a fly in jail," Napolitano told FOXNews.com.
But Texas prosecutors are elected, meaning they have to answer to voters.
"It's a rough-and-tumble, swaggering electorate who like to see the guilty punished to the max," Napolitano said. "I don't know that a plea deal is in the cards. It depends on the political wishes of the prosecutor."
The murders of the Yates children, the youngest a 6-month-old baby and the oldest a 7-year-old, horrified the country and became a high-profile instance of postpartum depression used in an insanity defense.
Yates' name has been frequently evoked in similar cases, most recently last month when a young mother dropped her three young children to their deaths in the San Francisco Bay.
More: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175041,00.html
IdahoMom
Former Member
I have a friend, who had a neighbor that was mentally ill. This woman when on her meds (no one knew)was a little vacant, but was well known in the community, and seemed to dote on children. One day, she walked over to my friend's house. My friend and her 3 kids were playing around on the front lawn. Her neighbor said- "Do you want to come down to my house and feed the squirrels? They're practically eating out of my hands today." My friend and kids went to the neighbor's. The neighbor lady said "I have a treat inside for _ _ _ _." She took this little girl by the hand and proceeded downstairs to a bathroom. She took her into the bathroom, locked the door and proceeded to slit my friend's daughter's throat, and stab her in the neck several times. She then went back outside and said to my friend, "I just killed your baby".
My friend screamed for help, ran in the house, grabbed her daughter and ran with her into the middle of the street, screaming for help. Luckily a few people came out and held the gaping wound shut, while paramedics came. My friend's daughter is alive by the grace of God...all major veins/arteries were missed by fraction of an inch.
This woman went to court, and her attornies fought to keep her in the home while waiting for trial- said she was mentally ill, temporarily off her meds and a mental hospital would further her decline.To the dismay and disgust of the community, this woman was returned to her house. It came out she was left at home alone, unmedicated again. Her PO said she started having impulses to harm people with scissors/knives.
Eventually, she was held in a hospital for a short period of time. She is now living in a different neighborhood-probably with unsuspecting neighbors.
I am very sorry, but I think that once someone commits a crime of this nature, they forfeit any chance of ever returning to society again. I don't mean to sound harsh, but Andrea Yates needed to be out of the house long before any of the damage occurred. Her kids were scared of her! People said she had the look of a wild animal at times! My God, someone needs to protect the innocent people in our society, rather than slap a bandage on the mentally ill and put them back in the home. IMO
My friend screamed for help, ran in the house, grabbed her daughter and ran with her into the middle of the street, screaming for help. Luckily a few people came out and held the gaping wound shut, while paramedics came. My friend's daughter is alive by the grace of God...all major veins/arteries were missed by fraction of an inch.
This woman went to court, and her attornies fought to keep her in the home while waiting for trial- said she was mentally ill, temporarily off her meds and a mental hospital would further her decline.To the dismay and disgust of the community, this woman was returned to her house. It came out she was left at home alone, unmedicated again. Her PO said she started having impulses to harm people with scissors/knives.
Eventually, she was held in a hospital for a short period of time. She is now living in a different neighborhood-probably with unsuspecting neighbors.
I am very sorry, but I think that once someone commits a crime of this nature, they forfeit any chance of ever returning to society again. I don't mean to sound harsh, but Andrea Yates needed to be out of the house long before any of the damage occurred. Her kids were scared of her! People said she had the look of a wild animal at times! My God, someone needs to protect the innocent people in our society, rather than slap a bandage on the mentally ill and put them back in the home. IMO
PrayersForMaura
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Oh my goodness, Idahomom, that is awful! I shudder just thinking about that!
Good God!
That is absolutely horrifying.
I feel ill just visualizing that.
I hope your friend has recovered just psychologically and emotionally from that.... and her daughter, too.
Good God!
That is absolutely horrifying.
I feel ill just visualizing that.
I hope your friend has recovered just psychologically and emotionally from that.... and her daughter, too.
Cassata11
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I have been waiting to see if she would get a new trial after Dr. Dietz testified incorrectly at her first trial. I remember watching the trial, or at least the sentancing on CourtTv. I have also read most of the transcripts. It's sad that a women on that kind of intense mind controlling drugs was left alone for any amount of time. The hospitizalations and the flippant usage of the drugs would be enough for anyone to lose it. Did you know it was only days before the murders that a Dr. said she was OK, and took her off of Haldol? Not even a week earlier she was suicidal, and talking about death!?!?
I don't know about anyone else...but my doctor gave me Wellbutrin to quit smoking, and it takes several weeks to build up AND come out of your system. I thought I was manic! (LMAO)
I would like to see Andrea's doctors have to take some responsibility as well.
As for Andrea, she is a sick woman that did a terrible act. Whatever the outcome, I hope that she is able to receive treatment.
Love and Light...Cassata
I don't know about anyone else...but my doctor gave me Wellbutrin to quit smoking, and it takes several weeks to build up AND come out of your system. I thought I was manic! (LMAO)
I would like to see Andrea's doctors have to take some responsibility as well.
As for Andrea, she is a sick woman that did a terrible act. Whatever the outcome, I hope that she is able to receive treatment.
Love and Light...Cassata
IdahoMom
Former Member
My friend has not recovered the way that I would hope. It has taken her years and years of work. She is working at it.PrayersForMaura said:
Her daughter is doing quite well. Very full of life and funny.
This event sent ripples through our community. I am very protective of my kids, and this I play through my mind frequently when they're away from me.
Jeana (DP)
Former Member
This was her attorney's comment:
Parnham said a new trial is a mixed blessing, because Yates will have to relive the horror of her children's deaths, but added, "She needs to be found not guilty by reason of insanity."
_______________________________________________
I don't know how far he's willing to take this in order to try and make this happen. I guess it depends on what the prosecution offers. However, this case strikes up huge emotions. It may not be too difficult to find another jury who think she needs to go to prison.
If she's really as bad off emotionally/mentally as we've been told, how competent is she to aid in her own defense? How competent is she to be able to let Parnham know whether she wants another trial or not?
Parnham said a new trial is a mixed blessing, because Yates will have to relive the horror of her children's deaths, but added, "She needs to be found not guilty by reason of insanity."
_______________________________________________
I don't know how far he's willing to take this in order to try and make this happen. I guess it depends on what the prosecution offers. However, this case strikes up huge emotions. It may not be too difficult to find another jury who think she needs to go to prison.
If she's really as bad off emotionally/mentally as we've been told, how competent is she to aid in her own defense? How competent is she to be able to let Parnham know whether she wants another trial or not?
Jeana (DP)
Former Member
IdahoMom said:
There's no danger of her ever being released.
PaperDoll
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I was following this case as well, and my heart breaks listening to how she drowned her children... I believe she is mentally ill but I also believe she knew what she did was wrong. She called the police right after the drownings and confessed.. That tells me she knew she had committed a crime..
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