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Prosecutors 'Seriously Considering' Case Against Russell Yates (Negligent Homicide)
ABC News ^ | March 16, 2002 SGT | Elenn Davis and Mike von Fremd

Posted on 03/16/2002 7:41:28 AM PST by codebreaker

Prosecutors will weigh a number of factors that may lead them to prosecute Andrea Yates husband Russell for either child endangerment or negligent homicide. ABC News has learned.

No decision has been made, but it is being seriously considered, sources said. Prosecutors would charge Russell Yates if an when the evidence warrants, but do not have the evidence now, sources said.

Andrea Yates 37, was convicted Tuesday of two capital murder charges filed in the killings of her children last June.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: charges; father; homicide; yates
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Well if a husband has to perform the way many here demand, there will be a lot more women whose husbands take their kids away. If the wife gets depressed, perhaps is often grouchy, ever shows any emotional irrationality, then obviously he must either lock her out of the house or take the kids to their grandparents. Hey, there is always the possibility that she could go crazy and kill the kids(even if its only 1 in a million, who wants to take the chance?) She might get PMS psychosis, can't take chances, no room for judgement.

And c'mon, we all know that most women can get emotional, how stupid of men not to realize then that most women are thus capable of murdering their kids(using the logic displayed on this thread). Obviously trying to save the family unit, trying to work through a problem and heal, instead of bolting at the first sign of trouble is really just selfishness on the man's part("...for better or for worse...", how dangerously simplistic and unrealistic.) Might hasty overreaction do horrible damage to her and the family? Absolutely, but hey, it is 'for the children'.

I guess to some here it is better to psychologically drown the children than to 'put them at risk'.

201 posted on 03/16/2002 11:08:05 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
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Doggonnit, I'm sick and tired of all these preventable deaths of children. How many must die until we do something? How many are killed in traffic accidents each year? Its time to start prosecuting the parents whose children are killed in car accidents. Who cares that it was a drunk driver, a careless teen on a cellphone, a fleeing criminal that hit their car, these evil parents who portray themselves as victims SHOULD HAVE ANTICIPATED THAT. Everyone knows there are risks in driving, by putting your children in that car YOU ARE HOLDING A LOADED WEAPON TO THEIR HEADS!

And why hasn't G_d been indicted yet? He KNEW men are sinful and capable of evil, yet despite this allowed them free will. Surely he must shoulder some of the blame. BLAMING SATAN IS NOT ENOUGH! Has the statute of limitations run out on poor Abel's murder?

202 posted on 03/16/2002 11:08:56 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Righter-than-Rush
>>Yates said if he could change one thing he did, he would have taken his wife to a different hospital and a different doctor..."

Their HMO would not allow that.

No their HMO wouldnt PAY for it. Russell could have taken her to any doctor he wanted including a witch doctor.

203 posted on 03/16/2002 11:14:37 AM PST by Dave S
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To: Brownie74
Well, I've read nearly 200 posts on this topic and here's my take on it. I remember the very first interview that Rusty Yates gave to the press right after the murders, and was struck by how utterly composed and calm he was. He had just lost five children and he was talking about how much he loved and totally supported the woman who had just killed them. I got the distinct "impression," and remember thinking to myself, "this guy's a kook."

Another thing that struck me, was the first phone conversation that Rusty and Andrea had right after the murders where she said to him, "well I finally went and did it." His response was, "which one?" Not "what are you talking about," or "did what?" Wouldn't that be the natural response of a person who got a call from his wife at work and had no idea what his wife was contemplating? He must have known she was capable of harming the children if he truly responded in this way. Whether they will be able to prove legal culpability...well that's another cn of beans.

204 posted on 03/16/2002 11:15:35 AM PST by Zorobabel
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To: Zviadist
What this really is, contrary to what many will say on this thread, is an attack on traditional lifestyles.

I have to disagree with you here. Having a mother so whacked out on haldol and other psychotropics, and so disturbed that she doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, doesn't wash her hair, and her mother is helping her 4-5 days a week just to stay afloat is NOT a "traditional lifestyle." This is a very different kind of lifestyle - the one called "living with someone who is severely mentally ill." There but for the grace of God go we.

The great tragedy here is that everyone seemed to be "pretending that things were fine" when they *weren't.* I don't know about the media; they're another story, but from what I have read here, many including myself see the Yates case as an object lesson for what the ancient Greeks called "hubris" - the sinful pride that leads to someone's downfall.

In this case, the "hubris" comes about from everyone pretending that this is just another perfect little suburban homeschooling family, mom at home with the kids, daddy off to work, when in reality this family was a cauldron of turmoil and mental illness. Many conservative writers fall into the same hubristic trap when they say things like "You HAVE to homeschool," or "Women must ALWAYs stay home," etc. In this case, Andrea Yates needed to be in a mental hospital, and her two oldest children needed to be in school. To say this is neither an attack on "the traditional family" or homeschooling, but simply to acknowledge that life isn't perfect and sometimes these things *don't work out.*

205 posted on 03/16/2002 11:15:50 AM PST by ikanakattara
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To: FITZ
"...but also very cunning,..."

I think I'm developing a theory that men--no matter how tough they talk--cannot truly believe that women can be evil, wicked and cruel. When they come face-to-face with evidence of these things, they take refuge in a variety of escape hatches that our Oprah-ized society provides. Our legal system and the snake-oil industry known as "psychiatry" both reflect this, shall we say, prejudice.

Prosecutors should pack the juries of alleged female perps with women. Men are not fit for the task of gazing into the female abyss.

206 posted on 03/16/2002 11:17:13 AM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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To: craigoethe
And why did he keep having children?

Really that desperate to blame the man are we, eh? NOW we have HIM having the babies?

Hogwash. Earth to craig... men don't HAVE babies. Women HAVE babies. To imply that if a man has sex with a woman HE is responsible for her murdering them five or six years later... And you consider yourself a conservative, who believes in the rule of law? It sounds like the rule of estrogen around here to me.

How 'bout this? SHE kept on having sex and getting pregnant. SHE could have left home. SHE could have said NO. SHE could have used the pill, or norplant or DOZENS of forms of conception prevention methods. Maybe HE thought that she WANTED a big family and that the depression would pass this time like it had the others.

But no, to desperate freepers, who see women who kill as "obviously a victim" instead of the vicious murderers and predators they are, this conviction of the woman alone cannot stand. No matter where, no matter how, there is always a man who is somehow "equally responsible" to hang, blame, charge, make pay, incarcerate, or in this case, put to death.

After all, he clearly abused her. Locked her in that trailer as his sex-pregnancy slave. Fed her bread and water, chained to that bed. Forced sex on her to get her prenant, and denied her medical care. Who knows what kind of abuse must have REALLY gone on in that household? It MUST have been that way! Women just don't do evil things, without having a man who is equally responsible or actually even the cause of their evil!!! Find that man, any man, and strap HIM to the chair and fry him. Let the poor woman off the moral hook and put her in a mental institution for seven or eight years so she can heal from her experience as a victim of this wicked man. She will never fully recover from what HE obviously did. </ sarcasm >

I know who REALLY needs the meds, and it ain't anybody in the Yates family.

Perhaps if you all get a petition together, you could freep this prosecutor and let him know by force of freeperdom that YOU believe that the evil MAN forced her to go through evil pregnancy after evil pregnancy and used the mental duress to drive her to kill her kids.

Then you could go for the death penalty.

207 posted on 03/16/2002 11:18:26 AM PST by Robert_Paulson2
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To: jude24
Just spoke with someone from Clear Lake this morning. She said his co-workers said of him that he kept to himself and didn't believe women should work outside the home. There's also a rumor that he has a girlfriend. Finally, I think there's something hidden here about this guy. I'm hoping once the meds start to take effect Andrea will tell the entire story. I think they're hiding something that she felt was so shameful that she didn't want it public and she felt the only way to "save" the kids was to murder them. I still believe she should go to prison but I think there's more to the story. Just a hunch.
208 posted on 03/16/2002 11:20:11 AM PST by Terry Mross
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To: Terry Mross
I've heard that rumor about him having a girlfriend too. But wouldn't that have come out in the trial?
209 posted on 03/16/2002 11:21:52 AM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
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To: Terry Mross
There's also a rumor that he has a girlfriend.

Maybe before the murders he was reaching the conclusion that his wife was a hopeless case and looking for a way out. Too bad he couldn't have moved a lot quicker and the kids could have been being raised by a saner stepmother.

210 posted on 03/16/2002 11:26:36 AM PST by FITZ
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
That's all true. A co-worker of mine told me why he got a female lawyer during his divorce. His ex-wife was very beautiful but also very manipulative and he knew the only chance he had in court was to have a female defending his case. Someone had advised him that a judge will always side with a woman no matter what especially if it looks like two males are ganging up on her which is how it looks if a man hires a man lawyer. Anyhow women will not really be equal until they accept equality in responsibility and drop the victim role.
211 posted on 03/16/2002 11:31:53 AM PST by FITZ
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To: the_doc
I'm not entirely convinced that the death penalty was warrented. Certainly, legally, her indisputable mental illness was a mitigating factor that would lead one to not give the death penalty. But morally?

To my knowledge, the Mosaic covenant is still in force, thus, the death penalty, to me, would seem almost mandantory. But I'm not entirely sure.

One thing is for sure: our legal system needs to forget about rehabilitation, and realize that law cannot rehab an evil person, but can only restrain him. The whole idea of a penitentary is from the Quakers, who thought if a convict was given nothing to do but think about their crimes, they would reform their ways. But Romans 13 seems clear to me that the divine mandate is given so as to restrain and punish the evildoer, not reform him (though if it happens, good). Society needs to understand the total depravity, and their refusal to acknowledge it is killing us.

212 posted on 03/16/2002 11:34:00 AM PST by jude24
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To: Terry Mross
What I don't see anyone mentioning here lately - to contribute to Russell's guilt - is that the religious sect he subscribed to held that women are sinful sisters of Eve and daughters to Satan. THAT is why no one likes Russell; whether you know all the facts or not, you can still sense he has a serious problem.

He is illustrative of a good example of Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. In his mind his truth is the only truth, he is right and will always be right. They are the hardest cases to cure if it is at all possible.

213 posted on 03/16/2002 11:34:22 AM PST by Lady Jag
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To: Brytani
You are giving his version of the story....he is not a credible witness!!
214 posted on 03/16/2002 11:37:01 AM PST by Doctor Don
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To: codebreaker
You know what bothers me most about this guy? The fact that his wife killed his five kids and he still defends her. He said just the other day that not only should she not be executed but she shouldn't have been convicted in the first place. That's similar to the statement that Taliban Walker's father said, "John loves America." These people ought to be tried for being liars and idiots if for no other reason. But since you can't put them on trial for that then the fact that they are culpable in some way is a a legitimate consideration, in my opinion.
215 posted on 03/16/2002 11:37:37 AM PST by Contra
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Father Yates is an absolute KOOK! He will find him another womb and implant more children very soon. I hope the media dogs him on this.
216 posted on 03/16/2002 11:39:26 AM PST by Doctor Don
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There are five victim's in this nighmare. If after reviewing the case Russell Yates can be charged with negligent homicide, then so be it. Those children lived in a dysfuctional home, the adults were only concerned with their own survival. No one was taking care of mental and physical wellbeing of the five children. If there is a crime then that is it, no one gave a damm about the kids.
217 posted on 03/16/2002 11:39:33 AM PST by MaggieMay
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To: NevadaY
Did your brother in laws wife work and help out with the bills and provide health insurance for the family or did she just sit on her traditionalist ass, barefoot and pregnant.
218 posted on 03/16/2002 11:49:25 AM PST by Dave S
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To: Slyfox
Well, Rusty's deferring blame to the doctors and the HMO as well. If the prosecutors decide to pursue him and get win
that case, then I guess they'll have to consider anyone else that contributed to this. I don't know. . .
219 posted on 03/16/2002 11:55:14 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: A. Pole
Wrong address bud! It is rintense who is enthusiastic about homosexuality in prison. Write to him.

Wrongo butt head. Its you that seems to think that Yates might "enjoy it". Rintense saw it as ultimate punishment for someone that forces his sick wife to have sex with him and continue to produce more kids. If you think there is any thing pleasurable about homsexual rape than you are the latent homo, not rintense.

220 posted on 03/16/2002 11:55:29 AM PST by Dave S
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