BREAKING NEWS: Andrea Yates Not Guilty in Retrial

[Skywatch_NC]

If they ever let her out, I hope they sterize her first. I hope she is sterilized now...

That and not be allowed by law (obviously in her case)...to ever adopt a child either. Or become a foster "parent".

[Cookiely]

I follow Court TV and other cases and this is the first time I agree on the verdict for not guilty by reason of insanity. Most cases are smoke and mirrors by the defense and most juries don't accept insanity anymore. Its sad because there are cases where it is appropriate.

[Air Force Met]

It's not like she's going to be set free. Personally I find this verdict surprising, though.

she will be set free, just a matter of time. im sorry, but she drown 5 of her kids, the worst eveil there is on earth. i was totally disgusted at the reaction of her husband. those 5 lives meant nothing to either of them.

Having a sister-in-law who is mentally ill...I don't think anyone can say that the lives of those children meant nothing to her. To say that is not to understand mental illness. There is evil...criminal intent...and mental illness.

Everyone who knew APY before she did this has testified how much she loved her children...if you have kids...she probably loved her kids just as much as you loved yours...the only difference is you are not mentally ill.

Having worked with mental illness through a ministry...and seen it in my family (my sister-in-law)...you cannot make a judgment that someone doesn't care about someone because of what they did...when there is mental illness invovled. It is not that simple.

NOBODY who has kids could do this to their children and be sane. Someone could have an anger issue and kill a child accidentally...and that would not fall into the NG by reason of insanity. This was methodical...and the jury corretly saw, IMO, that for a mother to do this you have to be insane.

No one in their right mind COULD do this. There are evil people that are criminally insane...and evil. There is a difference. This was, by all accounts, a loving mother, who did this. That is what makes it insanity.

[rainstorm]

she loved them to death, thats for sure

[Regit]

Bravo, AFM. Very good post. It's ashame that so many people don't understand.

[Air Force Met]

she loved them to death, thats for sure

That's a terrible thing to say.

My guess is you have no understanding or have had no dealings with the mentally ill....and I hope and pray you never will. It is very taxing...and frustrating...and illogical...but that is mental illness...and until you have had to experience it personally in your life, whether through family or ministry...

You won't understand...or have empathy for them and their situation and those around them.

[Derek Ortt]

Helen,

that comment was over the top, but I'd rather discuss this one with you privately

[Air Force Met]

Bravo, AFM. Very good post. It's ashame that so many people don't understand.

I've got a sister-in-law who is EXTREME manic/bi-polar...

She is on all sorts of meds that regulate it and when she is off of them...it's suicide attempts...and stuff she doesn't remember that hurts the family...and herself. You would think she is demon possessed when she goes manic. She treats her mom worst of all...the one who does everything she can...and has for 28 years...to keep her alive.

Having worked in the minsitry with the homeless...and homeless shelters...you also get to see a lot of mental illness. My cousin, who is also a minister, worked in a hospital for the criminally insane. Now that was a treat.

[Aquawind]

Helen,

that comment was over the top, but I'd rather discuss this one with you privately

That's good idea. Go ahead and get some of the Isreal issue off your minds as well.. Your constant hardcore rants are getting a little much to read for some..

[Janice]

What do you mean she loved them to death..... those kids meant nothing to her. She wanted a way out of the job of raising them.

[rainstorm]

thats not even similar to yates. i feel she did this to get attention. so soon we discard those 5 innocent lives. you can pay psychs to say anything on a witness stand, its not a science. over and over again, a woman gains sympathy from a jury that wouldnt be given to anyone else. serial rapists and serial child molesters MUST be mentally ill to do such things i suppose. should we feel sympathy for them? i dont. what about ted bundy? there was no sympathy for him, nor should there have been. none of us really know why yates killed her kids, because psychs will say anything on a witness stand. i do know one thing. 5 kids are dead.

[Stratosphere747]

What do you mean she loved them to death..... those kids meant nothing to her. She wanted a way out of the job of raising them.

Her quote was meant to be in total distaste...

[rainstorm]

What do you mean she loved them to death..... those kids meant nothing to her. She wanted a way out of the job of raising them.

i agree with you janice. i think she wanted a way out of raising them too. i read somewhere that yates was suicidal. susan smith claimed she wanted to kill herself, not her kids. time and again these mothers claim to be suicidal, yet when it comes time to make a choice as to which life to end, its never their own. yates was rational enough to decide not to end her own life. i would accept the idea of her insanity had she gone with her kids

[gtalum]

you can pay psychs to say anything on a witness stand, its not a science.

Someone's been listening to Tom Cruise.

Psychology is indeed a science. Your failure to understand mental illness does not change the fact that it exists.

[Air Force Met]

thats not even similar to yates. i feel she did this to get attention. so soon we discard those 5 innocent lives. you can pay psychs to say anything on a witness stand, its not a science. over and over again, a woman gains sympathy from a jury that wouldnt be given to anyone else. serial rapists and serial child molesters MUST be mentally ill to do such things i suppose. should we feel sympathy for them? i dont. what about ted bundy? there was no sympathy for him, nor should there have been. none of us really know why yates killed her kids, because psychs will say anything on a witness stand. i do know one thing. 5 kids are dead.

Its not? Do you know how many times she has come close to grabbing a knife and using it? It's closer than you think. Until you walk in the shoes...please don't make assumptions because you have no idea what mental illness can do to an otherwise sane person and what they will do to the ones they love. Ted Bundy didn't chop up his mom.

You feel? But see...you don't know. Its a gray area...for sure...and yes...you can pay psychs to say anything...but you can also get DA's to charge everything....and they don't charge things just so they have a higher conviction rate if they think they might not get a conviction. That's a fact.

5 kids are dead...and she isn't going anywhere. Maybe I have a little more of an eternal picture than you... don't know. I am for sure not as blood thirsty for vengence. "Vengeance is mine...I will repay."
Bottom line: the law in Texas for this was seen by 12 jurors. They agreed to a man and woman. They saw the evidence. You were NOT there. I was not there. And guess what...the DA agreed to seat that jury...and so did the defense. That same jury agreed with the defense about what the law said. The law says it...and there is a STRICT definition of insanity in Texas...and she fit it...according to the jury the DA agreed to sit.

"Vengeance is mine...I will repay. (PS 94:1-3; Rom 12:19)" That is probably the phrase you should repeat...rather than allow anger to overcome you. If you have a belief in God, then you can rest in the FACT that God gets those in the end who need to be got. If you don't, well then I can understand the anger.

[rainstorm]

Andrea Yates thought God told her to drown her kids. If she isn't crazy, who is?

If she's that crazy then she's a proven menace to society and deserves to be put away for the rest of her UNnatural life.... but I'd be willing to bet she'll get some shrink a few years down the pike to declare her "cured"... and THAT is what the courts should not allow for someone guilty of having done something this hideous.

A2K

im glad others agree with me. and the point i want to make again is we read that she was suicidal, yet she seems to have made a very rational choice to spare her own life, while meticulously planning the deaths of her kids. if she really was suicidal, why didnt she kill herself?

[rainstorm]

you can pay psychs to say anything on a witness stand, its not a science.

Someone's been listening to Tom Cruise.

Psychology is indeed a science. Your failure to understand mental illness does not change the fact that it exists.

of course it exists, but in this case she made a very rational choice to save her own skin, even though it was claimed she was suicidal. she kiled her 5 kids, then decided her life was too precious to end

[Air Force Met]

i agree with you janice. i think she wanted a way out of raising them too. i read somewhere that yates was suicidal. susan smith claimed she wanted to kill herself, not her kids. time and again these mothers claim to be suicidal, yet when it comes time to make a choice as to which life to end, its never their own. yates was rational enough to decide not to end her own life. i would accept the idea of her insanity had she gone with her kids

Just some quick questions...

What is your degree in?...and how much psychology did it involve? How much time/experience do you have studying mental illness...whether in the classroom or by observation?

[gtalum]

of course it exists, but in this case she made a very rational choice to save her own skin, even though it was claimed she was suicidal. she kiled her 5 kids, then decided her life was too precious to end

And that is completely irrelevant to the definition of insanity. I'd rather have seen her executed. However, the law is clear. She is insane, and by law should be institutionalized rather than imprisoned. Don't like it? Change the law.

[Janice]

I think a lot of us forget that the 5 children are the main issue here, not their mother. This is all over and I think we need to move on and pray for the souls of those little ones. Had she not done it now, she may have done it later. We will never know if she tried earlier. She is not the important one here. She will face her maker some day. Personally, I can't even imagine how she can get up each morning. If I wasn't insane while commiting this horrible act, I would surely be insane after I realized what I had done.