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.
The reason that I'm bringing this up is I heard an interesting phone interview on a local radio station on my way to work one morning last week.
The guy who was being interviewed was part of this religious 'cult' for approx. one and a half years.
He met Michael Woronieki while attending Michigan State college. He said that this 'preacher' would show up on campus every day with a 30 foot sign and seven-foot cross and preach to anyone who crossed his path.
Raised in a traditional, Catholic household, he was at first very skeptical about this man, but soon found himself drawn into the 'cult'.
He left his wife because she refused to have anything to do with his newfound religion.
He said that Woronieki was very persuasive, a 'Jim Jones' type. He stated that he was brainwashed into thinking that he was living a very sinful life and this 'preacher' was going to 'save' him.
No matter how hard he tried to be good, it was never good enough.
He lost his self-esteem and contemplated suicide.
He said the only thing that saved him was his wife - she never gave up on him. It took him a full year to come to his senses and realize what he was allowing this 'fanatic' to do to him.
He met the Yates when they were living in the bus.
I wonder if she was led to believe that her children were evil because she was a bad mother and no matter how hard she tried, she could never get it right.
This along with her psychosis may be what drove her to do what she did.
Assuming you knew that Andrea Yates had tried to kill herself, and that she had quit caring for herself and was obviously not well, would you leave your children in her care?
I don't think Rusty Yates expected her to kill the children, but he clearly used poor judgement. You don't leave toddlers and babies in the care of a woman that cannot even care for herself.
I think Rusty Yates is simply too stupid or insinsitive to register as intelligent life.
If Yates did make the comment in question, I'd have no sympathy at all for him if he was prosecuted. Some of the comments and ways he's already acted have made me far less than a sympathetic observer of him.
The guy seems like a twit. It's almost as if he checked out on the kids years ago.
Thanks for the comments.
SO, YOU ADVOCATE PRACTICING MEDICINE WITHOUT A LISENCE? HE'S SUPPOSED TO KNOW MORE THAN THE DOC'S? CAN HE WRITE PERSCRIPTIONS?
LOL.... we don't want him..
I think the "sheep" buzz word could more accurately be attributed to the tin foil brigade as in "the sheeple believe anything that the government/corporations tell them". I know I have never used the term, and I'm about as Libertarian as they come.
Not sure what zvaidist is but if he thinks the possible prosecution of Russell Yates is a leftist attack on traditional families, then I think its safe to assume he might have some tin in his wardrobe:)
Does that mean you believe that she [And by the fact of his appearing to be an accessory after the fact, he] killed them WITH hesitation?
Have any of you calling for Russel's indictment on some count ever lived with someone on medications of this type? Have any of you tried to MAKE a person medicated take the medications? Have any of you tried to get the authorities involved when they are not and are threatening themselves and others?
I thought not. I thought this was a conservative site and people understood personal responsibility and reality. There is very little he could have done, legally or otherwise. Can you see the $hit storm if some man tried to divorce a woman who is not taking psyc meds regularly? Worse can you imagine the hell him and those children would have had to live through if he tried to take children away from the "poor loving mother"? Again, I though not.
Unless you have been there, save your knee jerk comments and emotional reactions for your Lifetime channel interview. At least there your reaction would stand some chance of appearing logical and important because there reality does not matter, only feelings. I hate to tell you feelings don't count in situations like this, only reality.
I'm outa here!!
You did not get the point of my last post? What about the one before it?
Most people who have responded to this post suggesting Rusty should be prosecuted for negligence or murder do not understand mental illness or how hard it is to get doctors to take action. Rusty tried very hard to handle the situation the best way he knew how. His mother-in-law was in the process of moving from TN to TX to be there permanently. I don't understand what people think he was supposed to do with this situation. Pack up and leave his mentally ill wife? Stay home from work and get fired from his job? Take a leave of absence and send his wife back to work? Until a person actually commits an act harmful to others or themselves you cannot force a mentally ill person to do anything against their will. Anyone who knows Rusty will tell you that he is devastated over the death of his children. He has just found out his wife was sentenced to life in prison. His reaction afterwards it not unexpected. I don't know if he can survive if they bring charges against him.
You are so correct that many people in this thread have not thought the situation through. I'll add, they have not the slightest idea what it is like to live with a person that is mentally ill.
Of course, I have absolutely nothing to actually base my wild conjecture on, and neither do you. I hope Yates sues you for slander. Words mean something, and here you are posting incredibly irresponsible accusations about someone whose wife just murdered all 5 of his children. Have you no shame?
the_doc, C of C believes in a believer's baptism after the age of accountability, when one is able to understand the decision they are making. They believe in Free Will(instead of Once Saved Always Saved), so a life of sin turned away from God does risk eternal hell. But God protects infants and children in their innocence, and so they are not baptized until they are old enough to be accountable(being too young to fully understand the weight of sinful decisions and how it separates one from God). Thus these beliefs would have NOTHING to do with these murders, unless you are implying that the theologies based on Free Will and believer's baptism somehow contributed to these murders. I hope not, that's a pretty broad brush to paint with.
BTW, I believe the Yates almost never attended a church. Are you sure they were even C of C? The funeral was at the Clear Lake C of C not because they attended there, but because the preacher went to visit Rusty the day it happened and volunteered the use of the church for the funeral.
People like who, Andrea and Rusty? Doubtful. These people are poster children for planned parenthood by their deeds not their words.
"who make do on one income, who teach their kids at home instead of State Indoctrination Centers, who believe that children are a gift from God, not an inconvenience to be killed without hesitation. These people love the fact that one of the traditionalists had this terrible situation happen to them..."
Please, from now on ask before volunteering to defend the cause.
Remember, Rusty's a govt halfwit, errr man. He's a NASA engineer. And to think I used to seeth when older people called NASA white collar welfare. Ends up, they were so right. Would that qualify as youthful idealism shattered? Definitely. Now as pertains the ex-post Yates family, they were probably underwritten by a 5 star civil service medical insurance program that rewarded them for doing one thing well, having chillins.
Nevermind, the whole episode is so bizarre. Rusty is made for prime time TV. He probably wants to go down with Pia.
Wait a minute, how do they know it? Who was the witness? Yates psychotic memory?
Another thing, the phone conversations - were they recorded, if so why? If not who was the witness.
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