Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity

I think her husband should have been charged right along with her!

They both lost five children. I think they have been punished enough. They have to live with that fact for the rest of their lives.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14024728/

This has just got me so mad!!!!

Okay now I understand that having a baby can mess with someones mental well being. But come on!!!!! It is not like she snapped and shook her baby to hard or even killed one child..It was premeditated..She waited until her husband left, she took her children one by one and drowned them. She had to be sane enough to fill the tub and gather them up and then chase down her 7 year old when he ran, then cover them with a sheet and call 911. She knew it was wrong!! She had 5 children. If you are that mentally unstable then you should not be having 5 kids.

I swear this just annoys me!!!!!!!!!! Post Pardom Depression or not she should be spending the rest of her life in prison with out ever getting out to have more children...IMO

I agree with you in my deepest of hearts! Where was that guy? He had to have known that she was sick! You don't go from a normal person to drowning you kids crazy in the time it takes for him to walk out the door for work.

I was glad to hear this verdict.

I know the popular opinion is to hate the husband. I have to say though that I really don't know what he knew about his wife's ability to care for their children. Even if he realized that she was having problems (which I think is highly likely), I really don't believe he knew how serious her condition was. I definately don't believe that he even considered she would kill even one of their children.

I'm not saying he was a considerate helpful husband by any means, just that IMO he's not guilty of murder.

I hope I don't sound like one of those crazy religious fundamentalist by saying this:

After I was almost murdered by a friend whom I loved and trusted, I did not sleep for a year. Every single night I sat in my couch and wondered about what signs I had seen or what I could have done to prevent that. I found nothing. I did not see any signs. It came out of the blue and I was totally shocked and blindsighted.

Evil can triumph so suddenly and completely. A person can be reversed overnight. Satan will exploit any person with any weakness and completely take over the heart.

Yup, I agree. At first I thought - guilty! Since then I have learned something about mental illnesses and changed my mind.

I really believe that mental illness is a lot more complex than people think. Sure it is caused by brain chemistry inbalances....but I also believe by the person being sick, it leaves a gap of vulnerability open for the Devil to come in and exploit the person.

This is the work of the devil.

IMO (which this happens to be ), this is a dangerous statement.

Mental illness has nothing to do with evil or Satan.
Its a physiological/emotional concern. Period.

Statements like these are exactly why people with mental health concerns have been burned at the stake, outcast by communities, and tortured throughout history.

I do agree with the verdict and I understand that mental health issues can cause people to do some very irrational things. Sad case but glad that its put to rest.

Saying it is the work of the devil is agreeing with Ms. Yates insane explanation for the murder of her children. She was suffering from severe post-partum depression. She needed a psychiatrist not an exorcism!

I have to be different than most people here.

I'm highly disturbed that this woman murdered her children,
one
by one
by one
by one
by one.

One got away from her and ran but she caught the child and drowned the child. that is NOT mental illness and even if it was, that is MURDER. Murdering 5 people is called murder and actually - IMO - serial killer.

Five children lost their lives and it was premeditated and methodically done.

I'm just sickened by this. Truly. My stomach is so upset right now over this verdict.

I read on AOL what the father to these children says and I'm speechless. I'm disgusted. She should be thankful that I was not her husband ... she'd be 6 feet under.

Let me talk about mental illness just for a moment, and to let everyone know this comes from personal experience. I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder 4 years ago. Is it the work of the devil? Well, I guess you have to define that for me. Mental illness is your own personal hell. Its black it's slow and it hurts physically as well as the obvious mental component.

The way my husband found out I had had a break from reality is he walked in on me cutting holes out of the backs of t-shirts. He had a puzzled look on his face and asked me what I was doing. I told him I had to make room for my wings (it is perfectly okay to laugh at what happened. It's funny now.). He quietly packed my bag and drove me to the nearest hospital.

I'm much better now after rounds of therpy, and help from many doctors.

That episode is what my doctors call a warning. You can't tell me she didn't have one of thoes first, and someone ignored it.

I am in complete agreement with you! Her actions were premeditated IMO...

I am glad you are feeling much better now...

But, living with a mental illness yourself, you are probably aware that mental health issues, psychotic breaks, etc, come in different forms for different people. There are different symptoms, manifestations of illness, and modes of treatment for many people. Because you had the support at home to notice your own warning signs doesn't necessarily indicate that everyone does or would.

We can see instances everywhere of people unsupported and living with mental health issues...

I just want to add that just because you are suffering from PPD or many other mental illnesses doesn't mean you can't think on a future act or "premeditate" an act.

I think this notion is getting confused.

IMO, there is one word for her Serial Killer. She killed 5 innocent children. She CHASED one down, and brought that child back and drowned the poor baby. She did this one by one. She now has a chance to stand up perodicly and ask for her freedom again. These children sure didnt get this chance. Heck, IF she gets released, whats to stop her from having MORE children. to do this too again.

I am sorry, and her story is insane. She felt Satan was inside her, ok I am not one who belives one should kill themself, but if Satan was inside HER, whay did she kill the kids to save them? Most who say they belive Satan is in them, try to off themselves.

What she did was premediated murder. I feel our justice system has failed. Miserably.

I just want to go into slightly more detail with this as i am not totally unfamiliar with a situation like this.

One of My best friends has a serious mental illness. She is severely Bi-Polar and on what you would call a drug cocktail with everything from Anti-depressents to Schizophrenia meds...she sees a therapist everyweek and has 2 young kids.

For some reason or another her "cocktail" stopped working which happens and they are trying to redo her drug combos. This puts her into severe depressions/manic states and she is pretty much a not the same person.

I spent the last two weeks getting up at 5 am to be at her house to get her children 9 and 3 yrs old off to daycare and camp. She made a conscience decision that she is NOT to be alone with her kids because she is not mentally stable enough to handle them. And she has a sitter for the other times when her husband can not be there with them,

Now she LOVES her children very much..in fact they just adopted the 3 year old but she is also well aware of her mental illness and gets the help she needs.

My point is that Andrea Yates may very well have been mentally ill Obviously but she could have gotten herself help or alerted her husband to her intentions. Her actions point to her planning the murders not having a spur of the moment mental breakdown...IMO

OOPS. I should have said this differently....I think she was mentally ill first, and the devil took advantage of that and used her to do some evil, horrible, dark thing.

We have to realize that this isn't a RATIONAL person. Thus, we can't apply standard logic to these concepts.

I used to know someone who thought that her friend was the leader of a satanic cult who was trying to exercise her evil powers over her daughter.
Now, a rational person would think "Hey, I shouldn't be friends with this person anymore" or "Maybe I should report this behaviour to the police".

KWIM? These aren't rational thoughts. People with these thoughts aren't able to think logically at these times so its useless for us to state what she should have done.

This is a tough subject for sure, But IMO if you knew enough to chase them down drown them, lay them on the bed, call all the right people Husband, take the police to where they were at laying on the bed, you sure have a thinking process, I'm not saying that she didn't have mental issues PPD or whatever it was, but why on earth would you choose to have 5 babies, and not take medication, why would you leave that person alone with 5 children knowing she wasn't right, I blame everyone including her for the devestating death of 5 childen who didn't run far enough or fast enough because they didn't know any better, it's so heartbraking to see this sort of thing, it goes on to much anymore. I do not think I could or would want to still be alive had I done that, the horror of it would kill me.
My daughter and I just lost a 53 year friend who was bi poler she killed herself, I was devestated she took a bunch of pills... I can't even imagne what someone must be thinking or what they must be saying to themselves when they pick a day a time to take there own life, I was heartbroken, she had alot of problems, but she had a great life at one point and couldn't find her way back to that, she was using drugs lost her job as a registed nurse her home everything, I still am suffering from the fact that she didn't reach far enough to get what would have helped. No one can say that you won't ever slip and do drugs again, but people need to think that there's alway's another recovery in there somewhere.
IMO Andrea Yates did kill her Children and no one payed enough attention to a person that was ill also, but the way she did it, I just feel that she knew enough to do it the way she did, call all the right people, I beleive she knew what she was doing at that point...

Well i get that part but, i know my share of mentaly ill as well. One of my best friends in the whole world. is on alot of meds, and sees therapists 3 times a week. She gave up her kids. Because she knew, she could not handle them. So, I cant jump on the wagon that this is an acceptable verdict.

I still feel our justice system has failed. She was covicted the first time. She was in Jail, where murders should be.

I thought prison was for rehabilitation? How would the mentally ill to be rehabilitated?

I don't understand.

It is unlikely she would be allowed to have children and kill them again. I really doubt it would happen again.

I am just surprised her husband is still behind her even after she killed five of his children. I believe he is the biggest victim. Everywhere he goes people wonder what he did to set his wife off.

I agree If she weren't rational how could she know enough to chase them, put them on the bed call all the right people, I don't think rationality comes and goes that quickley..

I agree. she did this..one by one. chased em down...laid them on the bed. COVERED them..and called the people. thats pretty rational thinking considering the situation IMO.