In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her children in the bathtub.
The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.
Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read. She then bowed her head and wept quietly. Her relatives also shed tears, and the childrens father, Rusty Yates, muttered, Wow! as he, too, cried.
Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving her childrens souls by killing them. An appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness.
Yates chief attorney, George Parnham, called the verdict this time a watershed event in the treatment of mental illness.
Yates 2002 conviction triggered debate over whether Texas legal standard for mental illness was too rigid, whether the courts treated postpartum depression seriously enough, and whether a mother who kills could ever find sympathy and understanding in a tough-on-crime state like Texas
--------------------A Brief History Of Andrea--------------------------
Andrea Pia Yates (born July 2, 1964) of Houston, Texas,
Some believe or believed that her husband, an employee of the Johnson Space Center, was responsible for creating the conditions that culminated in the drownings. Andrea's psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, testified that she urged the couple not to have more children, to prevent future psychotic depression, but the procreative plan taught by the Yates' spiritual mentor, Michael Peter Woroniecki, a doctrine to which Rusty Yates subscribed, insisted she should continue to have "as many children as nature allows"
Yates told her jail psychiatrist, "It was the seventh deadly sin. My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell."(This is consistent with Woroniecki's teachings, which are best characterized as "hellfire preaching."
On January 9, 2006, Yates again entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity. On February 1, 2006, she was granted release on bail on the condition that she be admitted to a mental health treatment facility. The trial was re-set due to scheduling conflicts.
Her ex-husband remarried on March 18, 2006, two days before her first scheduled re-trial.
On July 26, 2006, after three days of deliberations, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity, as defined by the state of Texas. She will be committed to a state mental hospital.
The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.
Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read. She then bowed her head and wept quietly. Her relatives also shed tears, and the childrens father, Rusty Yates, muttered, Wow! as he, too, cried.
Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving her childrens souls by killing them. An appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness.
Yates chief attorney, George Parnham, called the verdict this time a watershed event in the treatment of mental illness.
Yates 2002 conviction triggered debate over whether Texas legal standard for mental illness was too rigid, whether the courts treated postpartum depression seriously enough, and whether a mother who kills could ever find sympathy and understanding in a tough-on-crime state like Texas
--------------------A Brief History Of Andrea--------------------------
Andrea Pia Yates (born July 2, 1964) of Houston, Texas,
Some believe or believed that her husband, an employee of the Johnson Space Center, was responsible for creating the conditions that culminated in the drownings. Andrea's psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, testified that she urged the couple not to have more children, to prevent future psychotic depression, but the procreative plan taught by the Yates' spiritual mentor, Michael Peter Woroniecki, a doctrine to which Rusty Yates subscribed, insisted she should continue to have "as many children as nature allows"
Yates told her jail psychiatrist, "It was the seventh deadly sin. My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell."(This is consistent with Woroniecki's teachings, which are best characterized as "hellfire preaching."
On January 9, 2006, Yates again entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity. On February 1, 2006, she was granted release on bail on the condition that she be admitted to a mental health treatment facility. The trial was re-set due to scheduling conflicts.
Her ex-husband remarried on March 18, 2006, two days before her first scheduled re-trial.
On July 26, 2006, after three days of deliberations, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity, as defined by the state of Texas. She will be committed to a state mental hospital.
------------------Conclusion-----------------------
Our Legal System Is So Corrupt That Someone Can Get Away With Murdering 5 Children On An Insantiy Plea. Honestly This Country Needs To Rethink Its Laws And Punshiments, I Can Go Kill The President And Call It Murder Out Of INsanity And Get Aquitted(maybe Ill Be Doing Our Nation A Favor)
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