Prosecutors 'Seriously Considering' Case Against Russell Yates (Negligent Homicide)

ABC News ^ | March 16, 2002 SGT | Elenn Davis and Mike von Fremd

[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.

[Lady Jag]

•In his mind his truth is the only truth, he is right and will always be right.
•Well now, that sounds like some nasty freepers I know! :o)

Okay OWF, think they know who they are?

I knew one fellow who was a classical OCPD, fit him like a glove, and he drove everyone mad. He was absolutely rigid and everything he did was exasperating to even casual observers. For example, picking up a salt shaker was entirely mechanical using calculated moves and only 90º angles. He would let go of none of his beliefs even when he was given concrete proof of the error of his ways. His wood crafts, however, were breathtaking.

[Collier]

I totally agree. My 79 yr old father became psychotic & paranoid after he suffered a stroke. He was very threatening to my mother. We (his children) came & called 911 & had him taken to the hospital where he was put in a psychiatric ward. We later found a 12 inch long kitchen knife hidden on top of the bathroom medicine chest. We also found his medicine, that we thought he was taking (valium), underneath the chair he used to sit in. We all knew he was a threat to my mother and we took care of it. Rusty Yates is culpable.

[MadRobotArtist]

Gee, if we executed them both, there would be two less psychos in the gene pool. I say let's clean the pool.

[Zviadist]

Zviadist, if this man represents traditional values to you, and if criticizing him looks like a leftist conspiracy, you have no clue as to what real traditional values are.

Look, just because you are incapable of complex thought processes, don't blame me. Go back to Oprah.

[BAFFauthor]

you people kill me....opinions out the wazooo...so let me ask this of you brainiacs.....name the 3 drugs she was taking and their results if stopped and what does sugar do to the mix? when you all can ACCURATELY answer,you will all be humbled as to what REALLY HAPPENED.....I hold my head in shame as to you all.....

It doesn't really matter what medications she was on previously, or what happens when you mix sugar with them since she was on no medication when she murdered her children. Even when you look at the liberal bigots defending Andrea Yates here, SHE not her children is the victim in their minds. It is so easy to lose sight of who the victims of crime are. AND THEY ARE NEVER THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT THEM. Insanity pleas are lawyers defense mechanisms to try to excuse the inexcusable.

[MeekOneGOP]

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.

Hmm? I always thought it took TWO to tango. You re-writing the sex manuals are ya?? </ sarcasm>

She was found guilty and will serve out her life in prison.

I will leave the job of prosecuting attorney to the Harris County DA's Office. If they bring an indictment to the Grand Jury and the Grand Jury feels there's a case, guess what? He'll be prosecuted according to Texas Law. . .

[Brownie74]

He must have known she was capable of harming the children if he truly responded in this way.

Exactly. He knew anything could have happened. Can you imagine coming home from work and:

Hi honey - did you kill the kids today?

[MeekOneGOP]

Oops! I meant to copy you also. See #266. . .

[BJungNan]

What an outrage. Here we go with the next sickening turn in the American justice system. The man loses his children, his wife and goes through the hell he has gone through before hand and now they want to blame him!

Only becuase they don't want to admit the medical profession failed to treat his wife. Sickening, sickening.

[cactusSharp]

hey doc......her theology is Church Of Christ....not morman but an autononous faith similar to baptists....specifically, baptism is necessary to "get to heaven" and as well the real depth in this case.....her religion is one where the 100 or 200 like wise church members all know each other like " brothers" and "sisters" literally.....and I mean they know everything.....reason....honesty....truely open......also it means 100's prayed for the mom all the time......I know many like this woman and many many Cof C church members... .....about the sugar comments.....the drugs she was taken have two lives.....one is when taken REGULARILY and one when not taken and the cravings are supplimentd with sweets and sugar......the sugar is like gas on a fire in bi polar speak.....now add that drug two was the very opposite as drug one( a bi polar mix) yet both have viloent side effects when sugar is involved.......source...drday.com.........Dr Lorraine Day....a legend.................

[muggs]

Not only have I heard that conversation occured, I read that on another occasion Andrea filled the tub with water and was acting very bizarre and Rusty was quite upset. I wonder if she mentioned in the past that she thought about drowning the kids?

[The Irishman]

Prosecutors 'Seriously Considering' Case Against Russell Yates

This is an example of the same reflex that has the state file charges against a parent when the child commits a crime. Of course that reflex makes sense to everyone who has no children or, if they did, haven't yet seen them through to the teenage years, or if they have, were among the lucky whose teens don't pick up on the social decay of our society.

Would Russell be in trouble now if he was just her boyfriend, not a husband? I doubt it. I think Zviadist may be onto something in pointing out the political uses to which this case is being put.

Thanks for the post.

Regards.

[BJungNan]

Do you believe that Russell Yates bears no responsibility in allowing his children to be murdered by his wife?
Do you believe that he bears no responsibility in impregnating his wife when he knew that she had mental problems?
Do you believe he bears responsibility, as a husband and father to protect and defend his family?
Do believe that ...

Sounds like you have made up your mind. Now let me ask you, have you ever lived with someone that is mentally ill as is Andrea Yates? I suspect from reading your post that you have not, that such experience is far from your understanding.

I'd be interested to know what you think about the doctors changing her medication. You are aware of the changes that occur in a mentally ill patient when a doctor does this?

[stripes1776]

We must be compassionate and understanding. After all, this is a man and he could have been suffering from postfartum depression. Everybody knows how serious that is and must empathize. </sarcasm>

[spectre]

Treating mental illness is an inexact science. But how could she have been treated if Rusty didn't take her to the Doctor? She had been off her meds for two weeks and knowing the hazards did nothing about it.

In other words, how can a person blame a Doctor for the end result, if they didn't go for treatment?

Pretend your child is extremely ill. You call the Doctor's office and he says "bring him in, it sounds like he might need treatment"...but you delayed for two weeks and the child died. Whose fault is it... The Doctor or yours?

[scholar]

I believe that anyone of reasonable intelligence, whether he or she is a licensed mental health professional or not, is incapable of NOT noticing danger signs evidenced by an individual they live with every day and sleep with every night.

Thank you for one of the more reasoned comments I have seen on this thread. I have had very casual social contacts with individuals who scared the hell out of me, and I knew that they were someone I chose not to have further contact with. So how could this husband and father not know that there was something terribly wrong with his wife and potentially harmful to his children.

[MeekOneGOP]

The latest on this case. . .
Relatives say long prison term for
a sick woman isn't right - Yates Blames
HMO, Doctors, Ins, Courts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/647808/posts

[I still care]

Thanks. Living with mental illness is like living with drug addiction or being beaten - there is no way a person who has never experienced it can really appreciate what it takes to handle it. I remember the husband saying he never thought she'd hurt the kids - I can tell you that it is very easy to fall into self deception like that. I remember so many times when I'd say, "I never thought he would do that" - because they do something new and different each time and it is easy to be caught by surprise. And they go through months of fairly decent behavior and then whoops, they are chasing the electric man down the street or something, because you REALLY needed to go to work on time that day and you thought, they have been so good lately, surely they can just give the man a check at the door for you. Well, surprise, they can't. And sometimes it takes a lot to realize that, because, gosh, darn it, when you married them they were normal. Why can't they be so now - and it isn't fair - and you can't PAY for someone to deal with them.

You can't throw them out on the street, and no one else will take them, so what do you do? Your best, and at all cost, protect the kids. But trying to compensate and denying the problem are two different things. I happen to homeschool, but I sure wouldn't leave him alone with the kids. And when he got bad, he had to live with his Mom for a few months until we could get him stable. And I will tell you this - I SO desperately wanted more children, and once he got diagnosed, that was for having kids. Because it would have been irresponsible for me to do that to a child. And that really hurt. But such is life.

[DallasDeb]

why did he decide to take her off her meds, so shortly after she was released from the hospital, yet again.

A friend of mine is doing research on HMOs because his father's HMO in California wants to discontinue his prescriptions! This friend said Andrea Yates fell into the same type of problem. Their HMO began to disallow her treatment. Has anyone else heard of this?

[ohioWfan]

I don't watch Oprah. Do you? Blind and ignorant typecasting is the product of a weak mind. You obviously can't handle disagreement without stereotypically, foolishly (and wrongly) lashing out at the one who disagrees.

Russell Yates does not represent traditional values and this was not a traditional family. Period. Is that too complex a thought for you to grasp?