Andrea Yates rejects 35-year plea deal

CNN via AP ^ | 2/27/06 | AP

[CA Conservative]

The government cannot simply sit on charges.

They're just keeping the charges on the other murders in reserve, in case the first conviction were to be overturned on a technicality. Since there is no statute of limitations on murder, I don't see a problem.

[Ditter]

I completely agree. Her husband is equally to blame for the childrens deaths, he was the sane one (or was he?). I thought she had 2 babies after the post partum depression but maybe it was only one. Which ever it was she needed lots more care and consideration than she got.

[connectthedots]

There is a difference between no statute of limitations when you can't yet identify the prep vs. an accused's right to a speedy trial once you have all the evidence needed to charge and prosecute the 'alleged' perp.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

She's faking it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1584661/posts

Execute her.

[TexanByBirth]

The guy maybe a Grade A jerk and an a**hole, but he did not kill those kids. She did! And don't you think this guy has been punished for this stupidity, his kids are dead and he must live with that fact!

[Ditter]

If I had allowed my spouse to sink into madness before my eyes and had done nothing to protect my children I would have killed myself by now. The fact that he has remarried and is planning another family leads me to believe he is in deep denial. The fact that he continued to impregnate her AFTER knowing that she suffered from post partum depression shows that there is something bad wrong with him.

[TexanByBirth]

I agree, the guy is a worthless human being. But he did not kill those kids, she did!

Mental Illness (and post partum depression is a form of mental illness) can be the cause for violence and crime. But in our society, it is never going to be accepted as an excuse for violence and crime; and particularly not as an excuse for killing children. The irony in all this is our society would be more willing to accept her being mentally ill and killing her ex-husband, than it is for her being mentally ill and killing her children.

I hope Andrea Yates is locked up in a prison cell for the rest of her miserable life. She will never be executed because whether she is mentally ill or not, a jury will take that possibility into account.

Finally tell me this...just who has something bad wrong with them....her worthless ex-husband....or a woman, knowing this jerk's past history, who would marry and have children with him?

[Ditter]

Please understand, I am not trying to excuse her by including him. But I find him equally morally guilty. If a toddler gets out of the house and is hit by a car because a parent is drunk, asleep, on the phone etc, is that parent responsible for the death? Of course they are, they failed to protect the child. Rusty Yates failed to protect his children from their obviously insane mother. Nothing is going to happen to him I realize.

Why should I have to decided which one is sick, Rusty Yates or the woman who is marrying him knowing full well what happened in his last marriage? They are both sick, it's not an either or question.

[TNdandelion]

It would be nice if insanity was that simple, Capt. However, it doesn't work that way and the "system" is set up to make people fail. I've seen it happen first hand. Very tragic.

With that said, she should be locked up in an institution for the rest of her life.

[TNdandelion]

"Mental Illness (and post partum depression is a form of mental illness) can be the cause for violence and crime. But in our society, it is never going to be accepted as an excuse for violence and crime; and particularly not as an excuse for killing children."

But here is the question. Do you believe that some cases of mental illness are so severe that the person suffering from it is rendered incompetent and unable to make logical, moral and otherwise appropriate decisions regarding their behavior? Or not?

What I will never understand is the justice system taking "insane" people and drugging them up so they can try them as competent individuals after the fact.

[TexanByBirth]

Do you believe that some cases of mental illness are so severe that the person suffering from it is rendered incompetent and unable to make logical, moral and otherwise appropriate decisions regarding their behavior?

Yes, of course. But like I have said, our society will never allow mental illness to be an excuse for criminal behavior. Our society still does not accept mental illness as a disease of the brain. Too many people still think mental illness is a product of bad parenting, a possessed spirit, moral decedence, etc., etc.