Un-b-effin'-lievable!

[Chassit]

She murdered her own five children.

I don't know how much more insane someone can be.

I think the verdict was correct, and I don't think she's going to get out in thirty days or even thirty years.

And I bet you that anyone else whose dealt with post-partem (sp?) depression, in some degree (as I have) will tell you that it's real, and that they could envision it being this extreme.

I have. I know how crazy it can make a new mother from firsthand experience. But it never would have come close to occurring to me to kill my baby.

If she was insane enough to drown her own children, even with one of them pleading with her ("Mommy, no!"), then she's no better than a rabid dog. (I understand she did something to the insides of the tub to make it harder for the kids to hold onto it. God...) She needs to be put down. Anyone who can do that, not once but five times, needs to no longer exist. IMO.

[danlo]

I really hate to say this, but after close to 50 years of advocating against capital punishment, then watching these creeps get out in two years to do even more heinous acts I retract my yes vote. This woman should be publically drowned and should be forced to watch her slow death on an overhead monitor. And the husband needs two years in the can (and a big sister) for being such a stupid control pussy. Gods forgive me. Right f-ing on Chassit and Cail!!!

[Tulizar]

This woman should be publically drowned and should be forced to watch her slow death on an overhead monitor.

Wow, that's some visual.

I agree with the death penalty in concept, but the reality is that it isn't effective. I like it in theory because it should eliminate those who kill from killing again and it should also save the taxpayers lots of money because we won't be required to feed and house their worthless asses for twenty to forty years. Unfortunately if most states are like my great state of New Jersey (US) the death penalty is useless because we sentence people, but don't actually execute them. In the past 25 years something like 200 million dollars was spent on capital punishment in NJ and not one person was actually given the needle.

I don't know if the prosecution royally screwed this case up, but I certainly wouldn't have a problem employing the death penalty in this case. As long as she is actually executed and not wasting space and money on death row for twenty years. Public drowning might be a wee bit extreme, but why keep her alive? If she's as f**ed up as she and the experts claim, then killing her will end her misery--she's screwed for life anyway.

[finn]

Nowhere near as severe, but a woman teacher in Oz has been given just 4 months in jail for having sex with a 15 year old boy. Her defence (excuse) was that she had been depressed. This follows a similar case of another woman teacher who only got 6 months. What do you think the sentence and public/parental reaction would have been if a male teacher had had sex (let's call it what it is, statutory rape eh?) with a 15 year old girl in their care? Would their state of mind have anything to do with it?

Women using, PMT, depression. mood swings, hormonal imbalance, whatever, to justify unlawful, reckless or just plain evil behaviour, casts a pall on all women. If it IS a condition which is accepted by law as a legitimate excuse for escaping the consequence of actions, how can anyone trust women to make any decisions at all?

My ex did a medical degree and positive discrimination was employed to provide limited supply of teaching aids, books, models etc. to Aboriginal students, they even made pass grades different. This hand-out rather than hand-up metality destroys the credibility of all Aboriginal doctors. Who feels they can trust their health to someone who had a lesser pass mark to achieve, or who the authorities controlling the quality of medical practitioners, believe are not as able.

Each time this type of thing happens, credibility is shot down, the equality that is fought for so hard, is shredded by what is blatantly un-equal treatment. Positive descrimination is still discrimination and destroys any credibility that the principle its trying to prop up, has.

Lets hope this child-killing bitch is never allowed to come out of a drug induced stupor!

[The Laughing Man]

let's make a ladder of her!!!

[Plissken]

Given that the Texas courts are notorious for whipping out the Death Penalty at a moments notice, and that a mental incompetence plea has been known to fail even for the mentally retarded, I'd have to say that the woman is insane.

That said, I wish she'd gotten the Death Penalty for this one.

And I'm against the DP on principle.

[Menolly]

:::this remnds me all too much of the lack of the usual death penalty protestors outside of the prison where 'Old Sparky' is when Ted Bundy was put to death:::

Are there shades of gray in protesting the death penalty?

[sgt.null]

well I'm an hour out of Houston. some facts here.

Andrea admitted killing her children.
Andrea waited until her husband went to work.
Andrea acted before her mother got to the house.
Andrea had one hour to do this.
Andrea locked the doors so the kids couldn't escape.
Andrea had filled the tub up months before, "in case she ever needed it"
Andrea drowned five children.
these children fought back.

the jury knew all of this.

Andrea needs only to be found sane to be released.
Andrea is said to be doing better after her meds.
Andrea has much public support from woman's groups.

my guess? after around a decade Andrea may well be released.

as a good Catholic I am against the death penalty.

but if I ever supported an execution...

btw: the local news has stopped mentioning the five kids.
instead they focus on Andrea smiling after the verdict.

[finn]

Andrea was sane enought to smile
Andrea was sane enough to realise she'd got away with not one but five clearly pre-meditated murders.
Andrea clearly knows that if the legal systenm is this easy to manipulate, the health system should be a doddle!

[Plissken]

:::this remnds me all too much of the lack of the usual death penalty protestors outside of the prison where 'Old Sparky' is when Ted Bundy was put to death:::

Are there shades of gray in protesting the death penalty?

Well, it's an interesting question, isn't it?

All I can say is this: I am against the Death Penalty because it is final, and because it is final, there is too much possibility for abuse and misuse. In the cases of Yates and Bundy, abuse and misuse aren't really problems - are they insane? Yes. Are they "salvagable"? Perhaps. Is it worth risking a few more lives to find out? Not really.

[duchess of malfi]

Love how it comes back to the husband. Good to see we're standing up for women's equality here. This was an adult who was capable of making adult decisions. She cooly and methodically drowned her five children. She deserves prison for life if not the death penalty.

Hey Wayfriend, wanna make a friendly wager? Lorena Bobbit was found not guilty by reason of insanity too. Had she been found guilty she would have gotten 21 years, as it was she walked out of the hospital a free woman in 45 days. Yates'll be free within 5 years, probably less.

On another rant, this happened in Texas. How much would anyone like to wager that if the same crime had been committed by Mr. Yates he'd be riding the lightning?

You know, I really do not care what sex the husband is. If someone knowlingly leaves their tiny children alone with someone that they know has been diagnosed as being psychotic then that person is neglecting the well being of their child or children and is an unfit parent. I do not care if it a man or a woman - that person is quite simply neglecting the well being of their children. I do not care if they are leaving them alone with the father, the mother, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a babysitter, or a neighbor - if those children are being left alone with someone known to be psychotic then those children are being put into danger.

Would any of you supporters of Mr. Yates leave your babies alone with a person you know is psychotic???????

I do not believe in the death penalty, but I would certainly hope that Yates woman is securely institutionalized for the rest of her life. And I hope she is never allowed to ever be around any small children again.

[Avatar]

Nice to see you in the 'Tank Waddley.

Some interesting spread of opinion here. The question I guess Duchess is whether or not he did know she was psychotic. If he did, then I'll agree that he bears a small culpability, although who would accept "she might have done something" as a reason?

Me, I'm ambivalent about the death penalty. About it's only value as far as I'm concerned is that, as Finn (I think ) said, it prevents the person who is executed from ever doing it again.

That said, I don't think the verdict was fair. Not knowing what happened in her mind, I can only speculate about her sanity, but regardless, she performed the action. If she was unaware of her actions, or if she believed that what she was doing was right, then I don't think I'd advocate execution. If not though, then I would. Even without execution though, I would certainly want her (gods I'm about to sound like SgtNull), locked up, preferably for ever.

(Oh, and Menolly, of course there are shades of grey when it comes to the death penalty. There are always shades of grey. )

--A

[Cail]

Who's defending Mr. Yates? Not I.

My real issue with this is that she is clearly and admittedly guilty, yet she was found not guilty. Not "not responsible", not "guilty with explaination", but "not guilty".

She got away with cold-blooded first-degree murder because of her sex organs, and that's bullshit too.

[Avatar]

Agreed Cail. Well, about the clear "not guilty" part at least.

--A

[Lorelei]

Andrea was sane enought to smile
Andrea was sane enough to realise she'd got away with not one but five clearly pre-meditated murders.
Andrea clearly knows that if the legal systenm is this easy to manipulate, the health system should be a doddle!

I know several people who are bipolar (not that Yates is)...all on antipsychotics, or should be. One of the things that they all have in common is that they all think that they are smarter than everyone else. Because they are smarter than everyone else they try to manipulate situations. I wouldn't be surprised if Andrea Yates tries the same thing.

[Avatar]

If so, it seems to have worked huh?

--A

[Lorelei]

If so, it seems to have worked huh?

--A

So far it has....

Why couldn't they find her guilty and insane? Is that a possible verdict in the Texas Court System? That way she would have to go to prison if she ever improved enough to get out of the mental hospital.

[Avatar]

Makes sense to me.

Or prevented her from ever getting out of the mental hospital.

--A

[Cail]

I don't think that's an option.

Look, I'm sorry if she's got a legitimate mental illness, but that doesn't change the fact that she murdered her five kids.

You wake up in the morning and the first thing you see is mommy. You love mommy. You trust mommy. You need mommy. Mommy picks you up and walks you to the bathroom. Mommy puts you in the tub. Why is mommy putting me under the water? I don't like being under water! Mommy why!

Now imagine that four more times, and imagine the fear in the second through fifth child as they hear their siblings struggle.

[Lorelei]

Clearly she is guilty and clearly she is insane....

Do I think she should have gotten the death penalty...Yes....

What I want to know, I haven't been able to find....was the jury only given the choice of two verdicts? Are the choices of verdicts based on the charges prosecuted? I must admit that know very little about legal proceedings.