Yates not guilty by reason of insanity

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  • AbuskedtiAbuskedti Posts: 1,917
    hippiemom wrote:
    If we don't try to heal people like this, we will never learn how, and learning how is the only hope of preventing things like this from happening in the future. Killing her or leaving her to waste away in a cell would be a wasted opportunity to increase our knowledge.

    I already know. I remember nights when the boys wouldn't sleep.. I definately wanted to kill them!
  • jeffbrjeffbr Posts: 7,177
    hippiemom wrote:
    If we don't try to heal people like this, we will never learn how, and learning how is the only hope of preventing things like this from happening in the future. Killing her or leaving her to waste away in a cell would be a wasted opportunity to increase our knowledge.

    Oh, I definitely want to learn from her. Absolutely. I just said my concern wasn't about helping her. I am not proposing that we lock her in a dank, dark dungeon and throw scraps of food under the door. But she should never be part of society again.
    "I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
  • comebackwomancomebackwoman Posts: 7,271
    Tragic. That's what comes to mind whenever I think about this case. What a tragedy on so many levels. The mental health system failed Andrea Yates, as did her husband and ultimately her mind. Unfortunately her children payed the price for that. From what I've read, it does sound like she had a psychotic break, a complete break from reality. Fortunately, most of us can't even comprehend what that's like. She needs treatment and hopefully her situation will help us learn how to prevent similar tragedies in the future. It's just a shame she didn't get the interventions she needed years ago.

    I do think there is a difference between this case and other cases where parents have brutally tortured and abused their children for years (locked them in cages, starved them, forced them to drink chemicals, adopted children only to sexually abuse them). Although there is often some form of mental illness present in those situations, there often is not a psychotic break as seems to have happened here. I'm not positive of this, but I don't remember hearing of any ongoing abuse to Yates' children. However, I'm sure there was some level of neglect given her illness. Ultimately, she killed them and we'll never know for sure what was going through her mind at that time. It's such a sad life she led up to this and a tragic end for everyone.
    There's a light when my baby's in my arms :)
  • rightonduderightondude Posts: 745
    jeffbr wrote:
    I don't care about helping her. Safety is my concern, not her well-being or mental health. I take solace that she will be locked up somewhere and won't be able to do this again.

    But if you're so hot for her maybe you could start writing to her, marry her, and request conjugal visits.

    The approach is wrong. Unless miracously jail heals her. Hopefully it does, if therapy cannot.

    Your last comment is a rather candid portrait that you appear to stroke. Did it give you tingles anywhere when you typed it? :D
  • suffragettesuffragette Posts: 253
    Wasn't there some religion involved here? Wasn't she a follower of one of the religious out-there guys? I seem to remember some mention of demons. Or am I thinking of someone else?
  • jeffbrjeffbr Posts: 7,177
    The approach is wrong. Unless miracously jail heals her. Hopefully it does, if therapy cannot.

    Your last comment is a rather candid portrait that you appear to stroke. Did it give you tingles anywhere when you typed it? :D

    Well, as I said, I don't really care about her, so your first sentence is irrelevant to me.

    As far as tingling -- of course! Doesn't everybody tingle when they post? ;)
    "I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
  • denverfandenverfan Posts: 218
    proving mental culpability is such a mess...what ever happen to the reasonable person standard???
    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity but they've always worked for me." Gonzo

    'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude

    Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
  • Heineken HelenHeineken Helen Posts: 18,095
    Wasn't there some religion involved here? Wasn't she a follower of one of the religious out-there guys? I seem to remember some mention of demons. Or am I thinking of someone else?

    I think there was some religion thing too... well they had a weird way of life basically and something to do with her having asking for home help and the husband wouldn't get it? :confused:

    Well said comebackgirl, it's very very sad. Like, I believe Jane already said, I don't think ANY women in their right minds kill their kids. It's impossible. She was insane, she'd even been certified a few times, hadn't she? I read a quote today from her husband after the verdict yesterday when he waid something about how it took them so long to find out what he already knew, that she was psychotic :eek: so why the fuck didn't he do anything? Why did NOBODY do anything to help her?
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  • comebackwomancomebackwoman Posts: 7,271
    Wasn't there some religion involved here? Wasn't she a follower of one of the religious out-there guys? I seem to remember some mention of demons. Or am I thinking of someone else?

    I remember hearing about some religious stuff too. I think that's the reason they kept having kids even though they were told she was likely to have more psychotic episodes with future pregnancies. I can't remember exactly, but I think her husband didn't believe in birth control or something. As she became psychotic she became more religiously preoccupied, which is very common. I think she said that satan was inside of her and was telling her to kill the children to save them from hell. I can't even imagine the horror of that - for her or her kids. It just all around makes me sad. :(
    There's a light when my baby's in my arms :)
  • suffragettesuffragette Posts: 253
    There's a lot of religious fixation in MI. I have a friend who is a schizophrenic and he knows he's getting worse when he hears God. I naively said that God talks to me as well, but he corrected me and told me that it was different when God talked to him because of what "God" said. This is an incredibly intelligent guy and he speaks very well about his problems and has thrived despite of them, with much help, support and meds. I'm not equating him with Andrea Yates, but coping can be accomplished with the right support. That she didn't get that support, I think, is the saddest part of a sad sad story.
  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    Uncle Leo wrote:
    That said, you could argue anyone that commits a violent crime is "insane." I always kind of fear the slippery slope. I think she's guilty of five murders.

    If somebody breaks into you house and is about to harm you or your family and you "flip out" and kill the guy, I don't think you are "insane". It is called human behaviour. Now if I line my five children up in order of their age and start to systematically drown them in my bathtub, well you may have a slight mental problem. One that should be passed by and overlooked for a charge of at least three murders of the five. Give her two free deaths for being suposedly off her axis.

    Kind of like locking you kids in your car and pushing it into a lake. Your hard wiring may have come loose and if that is the case. Time for the junkyard. Not giving them mind altering drugs to put them on the dark side of the moon permanently and then maybe letting them back into a normal society.
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • 1970RR1970RR Posts: 281
    Anyone notice how the prosecutor only charged her with 3 of the murders? It will be interesting to see if he pursues the other 2 in another trial. And what would happen if the second jury finds her guilty for those 2?
  • blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    I read a quote today from her husband after the verdict yesterday when he waid something about how it took them so long to find out what he already knew, that she was psychotic :eek: so why the fuck didn't he do anything? Why did NOBODY do anything to help her?

    If he really believes that, then he should be held responsible too... if he knew that she was psychotic, then why did he leave her alone with their kids?
    1970RR wrote:
    Anyone notice how the prosecutor only charged her with 3 of the murders? It will be interesting to see if he pursues the other 2 in another trial. And what would happen if the second jury finds her guilty for those 2?

    Interesting... maybe he is hoping for a guilty verdict in another venue of something?
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  • denverfandenverfan Posts: 218
    After killing five of her own children...will you suggest she can become a "productive" member of our society and again walk amongst us??? What happens when she wants to have another child??? Do her and I a favor and put her out o her misery!
    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity but they've always worked for me." Gonzo

    'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude

    Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
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