TX - Five Yates children drowned, Houston, 20 June 2001 *Insanity*

[kk's mom]

Justice is served... she needs help and now she will get it. This poor woman is a true mental case... God Bless Her

Justice is served? How do you see that justice is served? There are 5 children buried in the ground right now because there mother killed them, one by one. They never got the chance to grow up, as all children should. They never got the chance to go to their proms, finish high school, go to college, get married, have children of their own. Justice is served? You've got to be kidding me.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Justice is served? How do you see that justice is served? There are 5 children buried in the ground right now because there mother killed them, one by one. They never got the chance to grow up, as all children should. They never got the chance to go to their proms, finish high school, go to college, get married, have children of their own. Justice is served? You've got to be kidding me.

She was in the prison psych ward. She's going to a maximum security state run mental hospital. Not much difference. She's gone.

 

[Texana]

Rusty has always had that pop-eyed look. If you look at photos of the oldest son he has the same characteristic. He looks like he's gained weight in the past five years, but he reportedly used to bike to work, and he probably doesn't do that anymore.

A third trial is a huge expense for taxpayers. Harris County is experiencing a big crime increase this past year--much of it due to gang/turf wars from New Orleans gangs moving in. My father has a business in Harris County, and the property appraisal increase this year was horrific. (Especially since the business is on the fringe of a high crime area, and he routinely comes to work to find criminals have tried to get in the front door again. Pathetic.)

I thought it was ironic that Joe Owmby said that the possibility of Andrea ever getting out was "untenable." In 1996, we had a ghastly gang-related murder in Harris County. Two teen age girls were on their way home around eleven p.m. and took a shortcut home so they wouldn't be late. They ran into a gang initiation and were brutally raped, stomped, and choked to death.

One of their attackers had his death penalty sentence overturned by the court because he was only 14. His maximum sentence is life/40 years.

I tell you, I'm a lot more worried about the certainty that the 50+ year old punk is getting out, after 40 years in the prison system, than I am about Andrea Yates, whose release is a mere paperwork possibility.

 

[Only4Justice]

Justice is served? How do you see that justice is served? There are 5 children buried in the ground right now because there mother killed them, one by one. They never got the chance to grow up, as all children should. They never got the chance to go to their proms, finish high school, go to college, get married, have children of their own. Justice is served? You've got to be kidding me.

:clap: :clap: I totally agree with you kk, and with some of the other posters here.

I dreamed about these poor children for MONTHS after they were killed by their mother. I'm nowhere near TX, but I wished I could have done something to save them. It seems SOMEONE should have protected those beautiful babies.

I was very angry at her....I wanted her to be put in a tiny prison cell with the children's photos plastered all over the walls. I read the books written about her, and I do believe she was very ill. But nothing, NOTHING, negates what she did.

I do feel PPD and PPP needs to be addressed in our society, as it is a real issue. I also suffer from depression....so I know how depression can escalate. In fact, I suffered from PPD after my 2nd child, to the point I had to take medication, as I was having nightmares about something happening to him. (NEVER did I think of harming him though).

While I do believe their mother is INSANE and was probably PSYCHOTIC at the time of their murders, I also believe she needs to be held accountable and never see the light of day again!

I have very mixed feelings on this case...in fact, this is the horrible tragedy that started my interest in "true crime".

I'm glad she is getting the help she needs medically, but I wish we could be ASSURED she will never be released into society again. I don't think I could have voted NGBRI if I was on that jury.... How can you say she's "not guilty"? She is GUILTY, regardless of her mental incapacity.

____________________________________________________

May God Bless Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary Yates...Rest in Peace sweet babies.

The above is only my opinion AND I AM entitled to have one!



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[Texana]

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If I remember right she was charged with 3 also in the first trial. At that time I remember I think the Prosecutor said she could be charged for the other two later if necessary.This was also mentioned on C.C. show today.I caught the tail end. If any move was made to release Andrea say in a few years,justice could still be done. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.I feel a bit better knowing this~she should never be released.If she were~maybe Rusty should watch his back..

She is so fragile mentally. Her mother is elderly and without a definite place to go with people who could assure she was taking her medication, she will most likely not be released even if she is stable on medication. I believe her family recognizes that the best place for her is a structured mental health facility. The state hospital is not that much better than prison, but it is better.

She might get to go to a restaurant with her family members at some point in the future. She gets up at seven instead of four a.m. She might take classes during the day in managing mental health. She might be more free to move about the grounds but that's about it.

She was not a violent person before her illness, and properly medicated, she is not a violent person now. Rusty has nothing to fear but the ghosts of his own could have's, should have's, would have's thoughts in the middle of the night.

 

[Wudge]

:clap: :clap: I totally agree with you kk, and with some of the other posters here.

I dreamed about these poor children for MONTHS after they were killed by their mother. I'm nowhere near TX, but I wished I could have done something to save them. It seems SOMEONE should have protected those beautiful babies.

I was very angry at her....I wanted her to be put in a tiny prison cell with the children's photos plastered all over the walls. I read the books written about her, and I do believe she was very ill. But nothing, NOTHING, negates what she did.

I do feel PPD and PPP needs to be addressed in our society, as it is a real issue. I also suffer from depression....so I know how depression can escalate. In fact, I suffered from PPD after my 2nd child, to the point I had to take medication, as I was having nightmares about something happening to him. (NEVER did I think of harming him though).

While I do believe their mother is INSANE and was probably PSYCHOTIC at the time of their murders, I also believe she needs to be held accountable and never see the light of day again!

I have very mixed feelings on this case...in fact, this is the horrible tragedy that started my interest in "true crime".

I'm glad she is getting the help she needs medically, but I wish we could be ASSURED she will never be released into society again. I don't think I could have voted NGBRI if I was on that jury.... How can you say she's "not guilty"? She is GUILTY, regardless of her mental incapacity.

____________________________________________________

May God Bless Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary Yates...Rest in Peace sweet babies.

The above is only my opinion AND I AM entitled to have one!



_______________________________________________

No one wants to be depressed. Even moreso, no one wants to be insane. When a person's mind crosses over to insanity, a new controlling entity comes to be.

It sounds like you would like to punish the body that the insane entity directed. But it would only be fair to punish the insane entity; i.e., the mind that directed the murders. However, we humans lack the means to single that mind out and then punish it.

It's best to leave such matters to a higher power than you and I.

 

[concernedperson]

Andrea is not going anywhere. She won't be at Denny's having breakfast. She will be in a state facility for the rest of her life until she finds a way to commit suicide.

Rusty will still be on CNN maybe with his new bride. Calling Andrea psychotic.And elevating himself to some point that is not currently recognizable to me.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

He's delusional alright. He is just as much responsible for this tragedy as Andrea Pia. Why wasn't he ever charged for complicity?

Doesn't his eyes look like tooth pics are holding them up? He looks like he is haunted, the schmuck.

Nah, he's not haunted. That suggests remorse and the ability to reflect on one's actions objectively. He's just p.o.'d people think he was instrumental in what happened to his kids and aren't afraid to tell him so. He tries to play for sympathy every time he gets by saying "I lost more than anyone." No, I'd say 5 kids lost their lives and his wife lost her sanity and her kids, which actually trumps him every time

 

[concernedperson]

Nah, he's not haunted. That suggests remorse and the ability to reflect on one's actions objectively. He's just p.o.'d people think he was instrumental in what happened to his kids and aren't afraid to tell him so. He tries to play for sympathy every time he gets by saying "I lost more than anyone." No, I'd say 5 kids lost their lives and his wife lost her sanity and her kids, which actually trumps him every time

Such a good post.

 

[Amity]

Hi,
I belong to several boards.
Altho I don't post very much if at all on some of them, I read a lot and learn a lot.
One board where I only lurk these days had a topic that was discussing the verdict and I was reading along when I came across a post that really got to the heart of things.
It's from someone who is mentally ill and it describes one of their experiences.
Their post did help me understand a lot more the complexities of mental illness and how Andrea could have done this deed knowing it was wrong and yet not only did she continue with the deed, she called 911 and her husband just after.

I am cutting and pasting the post here but removing irrelevant portions and any names or handles associated with the post.
I hope this is alright to do as I'm still not sure of all the netequitte rules.
-------------------------------

So there I was. Alone. Decked out in my finest. I added diamond and gold nugget rings to dress up the look a bit.
I had $540 in my wallet, a debit card and a credit card.
If anyone saw me they would think I was a well-dressed, upper middle class, normal looking person on my way to Las Vegas, on a bus.

I arrived in LV with the other LV bus junkies at 9:30 in the morning.
No, I wasn't ready to leave when the bus was loading to go back at 5 that evening so I purposely missed the bus going back home.
I still wasn't ready to leave at 10:00 that same evening so I used my Visa card to secure a room for the night.
I don't know why I bothered. I never went to the room except to take a c---. Didn't sleep. Didn't feel the need to.
By noon the following day I had maxed out the Visa and gone through what was left in checking and had pretty much wiped out the savings account.
Did I know this little venture was wrong? You bet.
Still, I called my SO and said 'Come pick me up'.
I knew what the consequences were. I knew I had blown the money we had worked so hard to save over the last five years.
Did I care? No. Not at that time. I felt emotionless by then. I honestly don't think I had a conscience by then.
Until you've had your brain void of all emotion and conscience, you can't begin to imagine what it feels like to know something is wrong and so against your norm but you go ahead and do it anyway.
Unless someone were to have caught me before I boarded that bus and put handcuffs on me and secured me to a metal pole, preferably a pole that was secured deep in cement, as much as I knew it was wrong, nobody was going to stop me.

Do I have a gambling addiction? No. This was only the second time in my life I had gambled.

What happened was I had stopped taking my Risperdal and two other medications four days before I boarded that bus.
Why? Why not? Heck, I was fine. I had no depression, no hyper-mania, I didn't hear voices. The side effects of the drugs were almost as bad as the mental illness. The cost for one of the drugs was/is $169 for 30 pills, a month supply and for the other two I pay almost $200 a month combined. Why not stop taking them?

I am not trying to sway anyones' perception of mental illness or their opinion of today's verdict. Just please understand that without my medication, I know when something is wrong, I just don't give a damn if it is.
Without medication = NO CONSCIENCE, NO EMOTION.
With my medication, I function perfectly fine in society and no one is the wiser that I have a mental illness.



Yes, my heart ached when I first heard the news a few years ago about the drownings. Yes, my anger boiled over at the Mother but just as much anger was directed at Rusty, her husband, the Doctors and at that religious guru that Rusty had his wife seeing.
Today, I sit here thankful that the judicial system, actually credit to those jurors, might be coming a little closer to understanding mental illness.
--------------------------

 

[Only4Justice]

No one wants to be depressed. Even moreso, no one wants to be insane. When a person's mind crosses over to insanity, a new controlling entity comes to be.

It sounds like you would like to punish the body that the insane entity directed. But it would only be fair to punish the insane entity; i.e., the mind that directed the murders. However, we humans lack the means to single that mind out and then punish it.

It's best to leave such matters to a higher power than you and I.

OK, Wudge, we can leave such matters to a higher power than you or I, but in the meantime, let's keep her locked up while she is on earth. I do feel somewhat sorry for Andrea, just not as sorry as I feel for her 5 little victims.

IMO, the best thing we can do for her while she is here on earth is keep her medicated to the point that she doesn't have to remember what her psychotic mind made her do. I don't think she wants to, or needs to, get better.....if she gets better, she has to face what happened. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially a once kind and loving mother. I can't imagine the horror she feels or the images seared in her brain when she can think logically.

____________________________________________

The above is only MY opinion and I AM entitled to have one!

:sad:

 

[OneLostGrl]

I was pretty outraged. This was the first case I can ever remember thinking that it should have been not guilty. I'm usually pretty tough on people who hurt kids, especially. However, it was my feeling at the time and still is, that if she doesn't qualify for that decision, they should erase it from the books.

I'm with ya on this being about the only case I felt honestly WAS about the Perp being insane. I tend to be real tough on people using the insanity defense, I think in part because of my own mental illness and the over-usage of the insanity desense.

I don't "fall" for mental illness being a reason for bad or criminal behavior but with Andrea- it's different. She is so clearly out of her mind!


Now she can go about being locked up for the rest of her life BUT getting the help< medication and care she so obviously needs!

 

[newtv]

They can try her if they want to-if she was insane for 3 of them she will be found insane for the rest..you cant be insane one minute and then when u get to the 4th child be sane again..Whether anyone agrees or disagrees andrea yates is not going to be found guilty in the future..as well..she did not use public money for her defense and thats a step up from most of the people seeking justice..
I thot she looked better than i have ever seen her..she was dressed nicely and has gained some weight..I was thinking she was out of it though..I dont think she even understood the verdict..she seemed unphased and far away imo..I feel for her- and the children. This is a tragedy and it pisses me off the russ is out and about and married and so on..yes he has stuck by her but god..he is just as responsible imo-he expected more than anyone could deliver in a marriage.
I am ok with this-and I wouldnt trade places with her..whether u are in jail or a mental institution, its not a fun life. The only good thing is its more compassionate..and in this case I agree she deserves the treatment she was denied when she saught it the first time.

 

[NaNaRosebud]

I do believe there is a chance at some point that she will be well enough to live outside a treatment center.

SHE should NEVER be let out of ANY place she goes to. If she is, I hope she finds the blast of a gun to her own head to relieve her own pain.

If she was truly sorry she killed her kids, she'd kill herself!

I hope she gets LOTS of MOther Day cards while she is in her cushy hospital!!

 

[kato]

Gonna be discussed on GMA this morning with an exclusive with a juror.

 

[NaNaRosebud]

Rusty is NOT the one who held those kids down in tha tbathub til their little lungs were filled with water and they crapped when their heart stopped beating!!!

SHE did!!

Other women throughout history have lived through much more abuse than having to listen to a religious nut and live by her husbands rules. Most of THOSE women have not killed their own children to get out of a bad marriage.

Andrea saw a way out and she is playing it to the hilt. She's crazy alright. Crazy like a fox!!

I'm so sick to death of the way people use excuses for everything they do.

WHEN are criminals all going to be accountable for the bad things they do???? If juries keep letting people get away with all these excuses, pretty soon everyone can kill anyone and get away with it!

If she has gained weight, it just goes to show me that she is NOT feeling so bad about killing her babies. I wouldn't be able to even EAT, let alone gain weight.

I wish she'd bang her head against a wall until her head splits open or something so she could NEVER get out of anywhere, but she'll be walking around enjoying her life in a few years outside of the so called "hospital" while he kids are still rotting in their little graves!

 

[kato]

I'm with ya on this being about the only case I felt honestly WAS about the Perp being insane. I tend to be real tough on people using the insanity defense, I think in part because of my own mental illness and the over-usage of the insanity desense.

I don't "fall" for mental illness being a reason for bad or criminal behavior but with Andrea- it's different. She is so clearly out of her mind!


Now she can go about being locked up for the rest of her life BUT getting the help< medication and care she so obviously needs!

I totally agree about how much people try to use the "mental illness" as a cop out. Pisses me off. Especially those of us who truly suffer from one. Mine being depression for which I will have to remain on my meds. for the rest of my life.

 

[kato]

SHE should NEVER be let out of ANY place she goes to. If she is, I hope she finds the blast of a gun to her own head to relieve her own pain.

If she was truly sorry she killed her kids, she'd kill herself!

I hope she gets LOTS of MOther Day cards while she is in her cushy hospital!!

I don't know about other state hospitals but Texas state hospitals are not a picnic and are far from being cushy. I read an article a few yrs. ago and if I recall correctly they mentioned Rusk specifically and said that where the truly depraved are housed there are feces smeared on the wall as well as some other gross stuff.

 

[kato]

Rusty is NOT the one who held those kids down in tha tbathub til their little lungs were filled with water and they crapped when their heart stopped beating!!!

SHE did!!

Other women throughout history have lived through much more abuse than having to listen to a religious nut and live by her husbands rules. Most of THOSE women have not killed their own children to get out of a bad marriage.

Andrea saw a way out and she is playing it to the hilt. She's crazy alright. Crazy like a fox!!

I'm so sick to death of the way people use excuses for everything they do.

WHEN are criminals all going to be accountable for the bad things they do???? If juries keep letting people get away with all these excuses, pretty soon everyone can kill anyone and get away with it!

If she has gained weight, it just goes to show me that she is NOT feeling so bad about killing her babies. I wouldn't be able to even EAT, let alone gain weight.

I wish she'd bang her head against a wall until her head splits open or something so she could NEVER get out of anywhere, but she'll be walking around enjoying her life in a few years outside of the so called "hospital" while he kids are still rotting in their little graves!

Not making excuses here but alot of psychiatric meds. have the side effect of weight gain whether one eats alot or not as they have a tendency to slow down the metabolism. It's one of the reasons some people don't like to take them.

 

[kidzndogznme]

But she is supposed to have regular appearances before a judge who will decide if she is sane enough to be released. I know she had to be out of her mind to kill her children in the way she did. But at the same time, as another poster said, if I realized the extent of my actions after being treated with meds (as she has), I would not even want to be free. I would prefer to die.
I don't know if I am OK with the idea of her not being in prison. If she is going to be in a mental hospital, then she darn well needs to be there for life with no possibility of parole. Ever. Throw her in the rubber room and flush the key away. In the religion I grew up in, we were supposed to just have as many babies as God allowed too. There were women who had as many as 15 kids because they had one a year. One man had 22 kids by 2 wives, both of whom died giving birth to their 11th child. In that religion (which I am no longer in) women were told that awful things would happen to them physically and to their children if they used birth control. I, too, have issues that will require medication probably for life. At the same time, I love my kids more than life itself. God help the person who tries to hurt them. After having my third baby, I knew that was all I could handle. Did I just continue popping babies out anyway, figuring it was God's will and He would help me deal with it? No. My husband wasn't about to be responsible so I went on birth control. Completely against the religion I was brought up in but the right decision for my kids and myself. I just don't get Andrea's willingness to continue to lie down and have more babies. She should have made the right choice for her kids above all else. And that includes her religion and Rusty's hoo hoo.