Posted on 07/26/2006 9:35:01 AM PDT by cajunman
HOUSTON -- Jurors reached a verdict in Andrea Yates' murder retrial Wednesday morning. The jury's decision will be announced at about 11:25 a.m. KPRC and Click2Houston will air the verdict live.
After deliberating nearly 11 hours, jurors returned for a third day Wednesday to determine if she was legally insane when she drowned her five children in the bathtub.
Before court ended Tuesday, the jury of six men and six women asked to review the state's definition of insanity: that someone, because of a severe mental illness, does not know a crime he is committing is wrong.
State District Judge Belinda Hill said jurors, who were sequestered for the second night, , could see the definition Wednesday morning.
Jurors have already deliberated longer than the nearly four hours it took a first jury, which convicted her in 2002. That conviction was overturned on appeal last year.
Yates, 42, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. She is charged in only three of the deaths, which is common in cases involving multiple slayings.
As court was to end Tuesday, jurors asked for one more hour to deliberate. But then the panel immediately passed another note rescinding that request. Hill quoted the note, which read, "We need some sleep," prompting laughs from those in the courtroom.
The jury earlier asked to review the videotape of Yates' July 2001 evaluation by Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who testified for the defense that she did not know killing the children was wrong because she was trying to save them from hell.
Resnick told jurors that Yates was delusional and believed 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah would grow up to be criminals because she had ruined them.
Jurors later asked to review Yates' November 2001 videotaped evaluation by Dr. Park Dietz, the state's expert witness whose testimony led an appeals court to overturn Yates' 2002 capital murder conviction last year.
Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, testified in her first trial that an episode of the television series "Law & Order" depicted a woman who was acquitted by reason of insanity after drowning her children. But no such episode existed. The judge barred attorneys in this trial from mentioning that issue.
On Tuesday, after jurors asked for the trial transcript involving defense attorney George Parnham's questioning of Dietz about the definition of obsessions, the judge brought the jury back into the courtroom.
The court reporter then read the brief transcript, in which Dietz said Yates "believed that Satan was at least present. She felt or sensed the presence." Dietz had testified that Yates' thoughts about harming her children were an obsession and a symptom of severe depression -- not psychosis.
Earlier Tuesday, jurors reviewed the slide presentation of the state's key expert witness, Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Yates in May. He testified that she did not kill her children to save them from hell as she claims, but because she was overwhelmed and felt inadequate as a mother.
Welner told jurors that although Yates was psychotic on the day of the June 2001 drownings, he found 60 examples of how she knew it was wrong to kill them.
If Yates is found innocent by reason of insanity, she will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released -- although by law, jurors are not allowed to be told that.
Yates will be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of capital murder.
A capital murder conviction in Texas carries either life in prison or the death penalty. Prosecutors could not seek death this time because the first trial's jurors sentenced her to life in prison, and authorities found no new evidence
....well it actually might be....was it an act of compassion to kill Teri Schiavo?????.....
I agree with this. Men simply cannot use the insanity defense if they had done exactly what Andrea Yates did to her 5 children.
Obviously the woman was depressed and mentally unbalanced. But a lot of people have those feelings. The great news is not all of us use our mental condition or go "temporarily insane" to commit mass murders. Post Partum Depression, Post Partum Psychosis, Post Abortion Syndrome, Post Honeymoon My Husband is a Loser Syndrome, I'm Tired of These Kids Syndrome - call it what you will but it is a fancy title to justify her murders.
My mother also had 5 children over a 9 year period. Times were tough for us. Dad was out of the house working 2 jobs since teacher pay in the early 60's didn't go too far. I'm sure we literally drove Mom up the wall. But thank God she didn't suddenly go "insane" and drown all of us in the family bathtub.
I guess my real concern is where this decision will lead the country. Lord knows we are far too litigatious as it is. This really opens the door for slick lawyers to try similar defenses in virtually any brutal murder case. Think about how many people might watch this unfold and start planning their crime. Start acting a bit weird around friends and family, increase the bizareness over a period of months, get counseling, get a prescription from a doctor, then wait for the Walgreens to not fill the order one time and suddenly they beat their children (or spouse or boss or coworker or next door neighbor or whoever) to death with a fireplace poker. Then calmly lay a sheet over the body and call the police to report your action.
You can bet the mortgage this WILL be tried. Some will get away with it and some will not.
At the end of the day, it would be nice if folks remember 5 innocent children are STILL dead and show maybe an iota of regret for that. But I guess I'm being unfair to contemplate their short lives since it takes away from potential grieving time for poor Andrea.
Those kids are just props in this tragedy. Tough s--t for them; most unforunate. But, hey, Mommy wasn't feeling well. Think about her feelings while you inhale that water, kiddies! If we merely consider them "retro-abortions" it ain't too hard to blow them off.
Forget the kids.
Save your tears and emotions for poor Andrea. She is the innocent party here. None of this is HER fault. Don't you see? We should condemn her most vile, evil ex-husband. He is a man, after all, and bears major culpability. And the doctors. And the hospital. And society.
Was justice served today? Who can say? I just know three things:
1) Thank the Lord my mother did not drown me as a child.
2) The Yates kids are still dead.
3) This country deserves whatever happens to it.
Which little children's necks did she wring ?
If she knew it was wrong, there goes the insanity defense. That's my legal opinion, as well as my moral opinion.
Bingo!
.....well you said it would be compassionte mayb to kill her after you italicized my words about being sympathetic to her misery.....to I was taking it in the context in which you wrote it....about compassion for misery...otherwise....I have no beef with you
I saw a relatively young, but worn, homeless woman begging from cars yesterday. The thought that she should be put to death never crossed my mind. Undoutably she is miserable but (AFAIK) she has no blood on her hands. Executing her would be a crime.
It was the worse 5 days of both our lives. I saw the onset. The shrink saw her an hour before she saw satan and upped the Zoloft and said see me in 3 months. Don't get me wrong antidepressants have their place and for many are a godsend. But doctors as well as patients and their families need to understand the potential for that happening.
Anything Andra's preacher ever said or even her husband gets distorted and the mind starts living it as reality. They did it to my wife twice. They stopped her meds once and in two days she was OK. The shrink comes in and Ups the dosage again and the nurse the next days gives it to her. Within one hour she was relapsed. It took three days that time for it to clear out. Thanks to prayer and those Freeppers I came home after it started again and went to a search engine and typed Trazdodone {sp} +Zoloft +adverse reactions. There it was. Persons with Neurological damage such as sensory damage run a higher risk.
Before her problems about 12 years ago shrinks had tried me on SSRI's for G.A.D. the problem is mine is Vestibular and sensory processing damage oriented with G.A.D. as secondary cause and effect. Xanax is a wonderful drug. It took firing 5 shrinks to find one who thought so too. SSRI's about sent me over the edge. One very bad experience put me into Dysreflexia with Paxil. A Foley brought needed relief and stopped the Dysreflexia. I am trained to recognize Dysreflexia for obvious reasons and I missed it with myself till it was almost too late.
Persons taking SSRI's should understand all it can take is let's say taking OTC cold medication like Nyquil to do it.
I think cab drivers are among the bravest souls in the world. Good thing you had experience and knew how to handle that! :-0
I remember coming across the "yellow tape" every so often at the subway station in Philadelphia. Rarely did those stories make the papers. Good thing the man attacked in NYC survived.
I noticed the "look in the eyes," too, and family members and I talk about that. My one relative who has it is a very intelligent woman. It started in her 20's when she was in college. She read about it and knew what was happening to her, but she was powerless against it. There are lots of different mental illnesses, but schizophrenia seems to be in a class all its own.
I wouldn't want to see everyone with a mental illness locked in an institution. That would be a terrible injustice. But, once someone commits a violent crime, insanity shouldn't be a reason to release them. It's a reason to keep them locked up for good, or, as you pointed out, under "constant supervision" (in a locked facility).
That outpatient business in our town sure made the town "colorful". Most of the people seemed harmless. Or were they? I remember the one guy would break out into a ballet dance in the middle of the street. Sounds harmless, but he also happened to be the same guy who attacked his mother.
There's some class-ism happening in this story, too. The only difference between Yates and the dangerous people you confront as a taxi driver (or the "outpatients" living in my hometown) was that she was a middle class, suburban mom. I don't know if she has schizophrenia, either, but she seems like a sociopath. Here's a weird thought: I wonder, if she had murdered someone else's children, would people be as sympathetic as they are when she murdered her own? I think they still might feel pity for her, but they wouldn't want to see her set free.
I believe he did. I lived in Dallas at the time and I remember seeing on the news several times that he said that he was the one responsible and at fault, not Andrea.
That sounds about right - doesn't it? - considering her behavior. The way she just picked up the phone and called the police and her husband to tell what she did. I don't know if it's the medication making her unemotional, or if that's just her. From what the doctor told you, it sounds like that's what she herself is - unempathetic.
...I feel for you...really I do...misdiagnosis runs rampant.....and not to scare you....don't know if you are still on it...but the worse drug addtiction there is is from benzodiazepines....aka Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan etc. It is so addicting, worse then Herion that when some come off it they not only have severe withdrawal....they have protracted withdrawal....in fact.....so bad that it can last for years...I know..I'm a survivor.....
Zackly. The opening scenes in "The Silence of the Lambs" should be a good reminder of where Andrea's going. It's all Dignity Pants and Doctor Lectors and those mask things.
Indeed. Thank you so much for the Scripture!
My god what a horrible experience. I am glad you got over it.
Oh no. She is just insane. Not a murderer. Just like good old John Hinckley. Just insane. Not a murderer. Just insane, like a loveable senile old auntie.
Insane. So was Gacy, Bundy, Richard Speck, Richard Ramirez. Everyone of them nuts as a toad. Oh yeah, they were men. Any killer can claim insanity anytime. Most of them have personality disorders that would qualify them for the same defense. Bleeding hearts are bleeding hearts, even on a conservative board.
You so called conservatives defending a woman's calculated mass murder of her own children make me sick. You excuse evil, just like liberals do. In fact, you should make sure Hillary or the next Democrat prez can have your names to appoint you to the bench. You guys sound just like Ruth Bader Ginzberg defending her own favorite criminal pets.
Why?
She knew the difference between right and wrong and admitted as much.
Maybe you should read Saaz on the myth of mental illness.
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