Celtic_Angel

http://g.msn.com/0US!s5.31472_315529/HP.1001?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6794098/...ce=2&hl=Andrea Yates verdict overturned

Well what do you guys make of this? Isn't giving false testimony a federal crime?
Besides what I don't understand is why the law when it finds that Andrea was insane(which she clearly was) does that automatically mean not guilty
She obviusly killed those poor babies why oh why can't she be found insane and also guilty, and punished/treated accordingly

Franklin

Yates has won a new trial ... that's it ... based on prejudicial false testimony by a prosecution witness. So it is a technical knock out, i.e. doesn't speak to Yates guilt or innocence. My prediction: Yates will be found legally guilty and will serve her sentence, which will likely be the death penalty. Yates isn't heading off to Target or Walmart anytime soon.

clydegirl

The woman was insane and guilty and needs to be in a mental institution not in a prison.

Franklin

Well, what should happen and what will happen are often on divergent pathways. I don't believe in capital punishment when there is a residual doubt as to a person's guilt. If there is a more than just a remote chance that she was as mad as a hatter I would vote for life term. As a matter of public policy I don't think it would be responsible to find her not guilty, would send the wrong signal to society as a whole.

Wee children died at the hands of their own mother; if memory serves me right the mother made a phone call after doing the deed and there was at least an element of force used to drown at least one of the children. Sorry, but that does not speak to insanity but speaks to a mother who wanted to do something very evil and knew that her actions in killing her children were plain wrong. But for reasons stated I believe a death sentence is not appropriate in this case.

The next jury can find her not guilty ... it's up to the defense counsel to make their arguments, present their version of events blah blah. Yates will continue to receive due process and access to the appeal system.

doctor scrumpy

Seems strange how when it is a woman who does this the cries of mentally unstable sound. Had it been a man in identical circumstances would the putcry be the same ?

Personally she seems guilty as charged and for the 5 kids she should be punished.

Celtic_Angel

er...well that's cos men tend not to be stuck at home with 5 kids suffering from severe post partum depression, seems to me the medical system let this family down

Simmilar horrible cases have happened since....how much longer will it take for everyone to recognise post partum depression as a serious mental illness instead of just the baby blues?

ElsieTheMaid

Seems to me, her husband let her down! She had a history of severe PPD after the older kids were born. I would never have left them alone with her tbh. Did you see his 45 minute press conference the day after it happened? He'd just lost his entire family and didn't shed a single tear. He was calm, reasonable and was completely defending his wife. Personally, I think there's something very weird about that - I think he was expecting something to happen.

Celtic_Angel

oh without a doubt her husband also let her down but the way i see it the sooner society ...doctors nurses family spouses even neighbours all realise that PPD can be a serious mental illness the better for all........to be honest if she was overwhelmed why the heck were those boys homeschooled?? you'd have thought she'd have been glad to pack the older ones off to school

Manc

Her husband didn't drown 5 kids in the bath.
I don't care how depressed someone is, drowning 5 kids in the bath is rather barbaric and cannot be rationalised.

He let her down? how so? by going to work?

TouristTrap

Manc, only a man whose never experienced PPD would say something like that.

And no, it cannot be rationalized because she wasn't rational in the first place.

Severe PPD is an extremely debilitating disease. This woman had 5 small kids in a tiny 'house' all day, every day, with seemingly no help from her husband. I think it was he who insisted she homeschool. They belong to some 'cult' or other from what I've gleaned, and she seems to not have been functioning anywhere near 'normal' for a long time.

It is hard enough to handle severe PPD with one child, never mind having to take care of four others at the same time.

The lack of a support system let her down. In most other countries, a visiting nurse would have picked up on it and gotten her some help.

doctor scrumpy

Sexist crap from the off. Sorry but as far as I can see it she cold bloodly murdered her 5 kids. Let's get away from the ' it is nobodies fault ' crap, she is a multiple child killer and should be punished according to the law.

Who is thinking of those poor kids in all of this when they make excuses for the child killer ?

Celtic_Angel

of course she murdered her kids! nobody said she didn't!! but if we just punish the women and forget about it then were not doing anybody any favours...lets get to the root of the problem!....lets recognise,try to understand and treat PPD as the serious mental illness it is and maybe then we can prevent this heinous crime from happening to some other poor family!!

doctor scrumpy

How many women will be allowed to claim ' they have PPD ' as a defence to the brutal murder of a child then ? It is like that damn Cheshire secretary who murdered her 2 kids, but they called it cot death after 2 years of appeals. Sorry, but murder is murder, no excuses from this woman please, bleeding heart liberals are not needed.

Manc

say what? that it's barbaric to drown 5 kids in the bath?
FFS..........

It's not like he was off fooling around on her or anything when she did this, he was at work trying to earn a few quid so she could be a stay at home mum.

husbands fault my arse.
I'll state again, he did nothing wrong.

He did nothing that 100 million other guys don't do.

get married, have a family, go to work.

she's the fruitcake, not him

luxusmonk

This woman killed her 5 children because she was insane.....She was treated by psychiatrists who told her and her husband to not have children anymore because of the risks of relapsing ( when she had her third child I believe).
Her husband was not allowing her to get treatement anymore and must bear some responsibality as he was living with her and could see she wasn't doing well.
This woman anyway will never be free..she will be either in jail or in a mental institution until she dies.
I have a child,the story made me cringe,but the reason we have laws is to at least try to do the right thing.
One more comment: her punishement will be harsh enough when she gets better and realizes what she had done.......