What do you think about Andrea Yate's virdict?

Question

If you were in the jury, how would you find Andrea Yates? Guilty, or Not Guilty by reason of insanity?

Answer 1

Dosent matter if she was crazy or not, she still killed her own children. This NGRI stuff is bullcrap! If you are insane and you dont get help, then you need to be held responsible for your actions. Her own Dr. told her not to have anymore kids because of her reaction to post partem depression, but she chose not to listen. I think they should have locked her in a cell with pictures of her dead children covering the walls to remind her forever of what she did.

Answer 2

I have read the books about her, watched several interviews, even had the opportunity to speak with her husband.
I am VERY torn on this. I feel like she did have a severe condition and did not get the help she needed nor the support from her husband.
Studies that have been done on other people with the same condition treated and untreated prove that it can make you do crazy things.
Also the medication she was on has since been proven to have very dangerous side effects.

How I would vote if I were the jury I do not know. But would have a better idea sitting in that seat than the one I am in now.

And just to let you know I am in no way justifying her behavior. What she did was WRONG...its just a question of whether she knew that at the time or not.

Answer 3

Well, she's guilty of killing her children. but what is law and what is just can be two very different things...at the time of the murders she was insane, both prosecution and defense experts agreed on that...the law allows temporary insanity as a mitigating circumstance, and I think she fits that definition...unfortunately, even in an extreme case like this, we do not allow forced sterilization however, in my opinion her husband is partly to blame...I think this tragedy could have been avoided...

Answer 4

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!!!!! How can that woman plead insanity? There had to be a moment of "What the heck am I doing" when she drown those children one by one. She knowinlgly watched her children DIE one by one. She chased her oldest through the house to KILL him. She was not insane. She was dimented like all the rest of the murderers on death row. This is one of the sickest crimes I have ever read about.

Answer 5

She committed the crime, of course, but did she realize exactly what she was doing? She had a long history of mental illness, including psychosis, and wasn't able to understand exactly why her actions were criminal. She thought that, by killing the kids, she was saving them from hell.

If you study her past, you would see that she had problems with post partum psychosis after the births of her children. In addition, she had psychoses unrelated to the births of her children. She had been advised not to have additional children, since that would exacerbate her condition, but her husband wanted lots of sons, so she agreed to get pregnant again and again. Unfortunately, because of her mental illness, she wasn't able to fully understand the ramifications of that decision.

You also have to understand that her husband was a follower of a religious sect that treated women like chattel. Her husband, Rusty, purchased a converted school bus and had the family live in that bus. Could you imagine living in a school bus with 5 children? Rusty made Andrea give up most of her personal possessions so that they could live in that bus. He made sure, however, that 1/2 of the room on the bus was used for the storage of HIS possessions and momentos. She had to get rid of pictures, papers, her wedding dress, but Rusty got to keep all of his stuff.

When Andrea's brother expressed concern about Andrea's mental condition, Rusty said she just needed to "pull herself up by her beltloops." She had a mental illness. She needed therapy and medication. Rusty kept her from getting that therapy and medication. Since she had a mental illness, she wasn't responsible enough to get the needed treatment. As her husband, Rusty had an obligation to see that she got the treatment she needed. He didn't want her to get that treatment however. If she was on medication, she wouldn't have been able to have more children, and Rusty wanted more children.

He's more responsible for the deaths of those 5 children than anyone else on this earth. He doesn't have a mental illness. He was just selfish, and that contributed to the deaths of those 5 precious children.

Answer 6

I would say guilty and insane. Why do we not have that verdict available in the U.S? That would mean she would be put in a prison and get therapy. She needs both! But really, ANYONE who would drown their FIVE kids, one after another like that, HAS to be INSANE!!

Answer 7

that sick b*tch deserves to have her head held underwater, nearly drowned, and brought back up 5 times...once for each of those poor children she killed!

i hope she commits suicide. she KNEW it was wrong to kill her children, she did it when no one else was around to stop her, and then she gets to go to the nuthouse where she'll get out in a few weeks/months.

also though, the doctors warned her husband that they didn't need to have any more kids after the third, due to her psychotic episodes, yet the husband wanted to have more kids. what the hell was he thinking? he should be suffering too.

Answer 8

Well, as a mother of four, I know that she would have had to have been insane to "off" them like that. Children DO make you angry, but not like that...To commit such a crime, it had to have been the manifistation of illness. Her psychologist said she is worse off today, anyway, and will most likely spend the remainder of her life in a mental care facility, anyway...so it is not like she is getting out. Mental illness is a real disease and must be treated as such.

Answer 9

I think justice was served. At least in the nuthouse she will get the therapy she needs, unlike what she would get (nothing) in prison.

not guilty by reason of insanity.

Answer 10

They need to take away the question of letting her out. If she went to jail it would have been life, but because she can cop a bargain they are saying she will have the chance to get out after treatment????? Are THEY insane??????