And now, about Russell Yates . . .

SF Chronicle ^ | 3-19-02 | Debora J. Saunders

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Hey, I'm ready to start a Russell Yates Vasectomy Fund. On Friday, a jury decided that Yates' wife Andrea, 37, will serve a life sentence in prison for drowning the couple's five children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke and baby Mary. She won't be eligible for parole until 2041.

[AppyPappy]

Do you have a link to the source of that story? We were looking for it yesterday.

[Ward Smythe]

Do you have a link to the source of that story?

No, I was just reminded of it on the thread yesterday and remembered if from before. Sorry.

[writmeister]

Yes, nitwits like one of our secretaries who was going on about how it wasn't Russell Yates' fault (it was all the doctor's fault).

Now, before anybody thinks I've gone feminazi, I do not absolve Andrea Yates. She was not legally insane and deserves the life sentence, which she received. But, I do not consider Russell blameless.

Whether he can be charged criminally, I do not know. But it makes me sick that he is planning to profit from those children's death and then re-procreate a whole new family with a new version of Andrea.

[TexKat]

Okay, I think this one is a little overboard to blame B. Clinton.

[TexKat]

I myself believe this to be so. His actions are proving this.

[AppyPappy]

If women are willing to hook up with him, there's not a lot you can do. For every asshole, there is a dumbass.

[ClearasaBell]

too obvious , he is a cold fish when most men would feel devastated and blame themselves regardless of what happened. Psychotropic drugs are over used by doctors and brain chemistry in its infancy as a science. Social workers and psychologists play a small role in people labeled mentally incompetent in our society. I think he drugged her and put the idea in her head

[KansasGirl]

And after killing the children she called him and said, "I finally did it!!" Really makes me wonder...

[NYCVirago]

They are airing him because the new feminist spin is that Russell killed those kids. Andrea couldn't do it because she was sick. And he's the man and the man is always to blame. Why else would they put him on TV?

That's not true -- NOW has yet to criticize him, and these interviews have all been softball ones.

[soozla]

"yes but that's not a crime. Killing your kids is a crime. She could have left at any time."

I'm not an attorney, but here, in Illinois, I believe there is some sort of charge which can be brought against spouses who stand by and allow their kids to be "abused" (and we all probably agree that what Andrea Yates did would be the final, worst case of abuse) and don't show that they did EVERYTHING humanly possible to stop it. Kind of like the Mom who gets liquored up and piles the kids in the car to go to MacDonald's and ends up wrapping the car around a tree. If the Dad does anything short of laying under the car wheels, he could be held criminally liable. And even then they would say "he should have called the cops IMMEDIATELY and reported the Mom as intoxicated, given a vehicle description so she could have been stopped!"

If a court can prove that the other spouse was negligent, in this regard, I think the other spouse can face prison time, also. Kind of like "it takes two to tango". Like I said, I'm not an attorney, maybe someone more educated about this will give us a clue.

[smiley]

Not in my opinion, it isn't.

[lsee]

She could have left at any time

I agree with you...and I think at the heart of it that's one reason she murdered her children. If she killed herself, he'd get them...if she left, he'd get them, at least part of the time and full-time if she was hospitalized again.

There have been plenty of cases of husbands or ex-husbands killing their own kids to keep the woman from having custody...Women don't do this as often, but I'm sure Andrea's is not the first case. Even with her bizarre mind-set, I can't help but feel this was part of her motive for murder...to keep Russell from getting them (if she died) or taking them away from her.

Believe me, Appy (may I call you Appy?), I'm not defending her one bit. What she did was evil, whether she was in the grip of mental illness or not, it was evil...I'm just suggesting that Russell's self-centeredness and lack of empathy may have contributed to his wife's hateful decision.

[AppyPappy]

Of course it contributed but it's hardly the cause. At this point, EVERYTHING contributed. She was headed downhill with no brake. The doctors ignored it. Her family ignored it and Russell ignored it. The question is: Why is HE suddenly the scapegoat? Why do we have pity for a child murderer and disgust for their father?

Face it. There is little good in Russell and any that exists will NOT be exposed by the media. They are in full witch hunt mode. By the time this is over, every homeschooling family is going to be led by a Russell clone

[AppyPappy]

When you have a nut in the lens, you let him dig his own grave. Why is he even being interviewed? Because it fits the agenda being pushed.

[TexKat]

Not in my opinion, it isn't.

Well, thank God (opinions) that is still one of the things we are entitled to. Regardless, whether they may be strange or not.

[Delbert]

I saw Russell Yates on Larry King, he kept saying ".....before my children passed away." or "......after my children passed away."
I wanted to jump in the studio and shake him and say "You moron, your children did not pass away . they were murdered, because your wife is a murdering psycho hosebeast and you are an idiot that did nothing and ignored the signs." This guy should not be allowed to start another family. He needs to be neutered.

[truthkeeper]

Yes, the resemblance is striking, isn't it?

[GussiedUp]

Anyone seen this link yet?

http://yateskids.org/

Evidently Russell Yates put this up - even has an email address to write to him.

[Marysecretary]

And where could she have gone, AppyPappy? Leaving is not easy, I've been there. I took 25 years of being married to an alcoholic and all the garbage that brings with it. I had three kids, no marketable skills, nowhere to go really. At the right time I was able to but not until then. She was psychotic to begin with and had more kids than I did and less marketable skills. It's easy for us to stand in judgement of her but nobody can stand in her shoes and understand what wasa going on in her sick mind. I certainly don't condone what she did. It was horrific, but I believe she was a really sick puppy and was never given the help and support of her equally guilty husband and their families.

[Prodigal Daughter]

Yateskids.org

SICK! And on the website, he says they "died tragically". Ground control to Major Rusty: THEY WERE MURDERED! and YOU MUST HAVE HAD AN INKLING SHE WAS LIKELY TO MURDER THEM BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T SURPRISED WHEN SHE CALLED YOU!