(19) According to Andrea, she killed her children to save them from Satan and her own evil maternal influences, (20) delusions that did little to help Andrea's defense because they fueled her own desire for punishment. (16) Andrea's life was also distinguished by religious obsession and a steadfast devotion to tales of sin and Scripture, (17) a "repent-or-burn zeal" (18) that led her to believe she was a bad mother with ruined offspring. They could testify that Andrea had been tormented by bouts of mental illness, (15) and, in fact, both the prosecution and defense agreed that she was mentally ill. To those closest to Andrea, this self-blaming reaction came as no surprise. (14) She seemed to be awaiting punishment for her sins. (12) Andrea insisted there was nothing wrong with her mind (13) and that she deserved to die. (9) After a jury found Andrea competent to stand trial, (10) she resented the efforts that her attorneys mounted on her behalf (11) even as she faced possible execution. (7) Such defense plans were already encumbered by the unusually strict Texas insanity standard (8) and the state's renowned retributive culture. Yet, news accounts and court records suggest that Andrea impaired her attorneys' efforts to plead insanity. ![]() Some may think that a mentally ill mother who committed such an act should be judged insane. (4) Months later, she was convicted of capital murder in Harris County, Texas, (5) where she now serves a life sentence. ![]() (3) Then on June 20, 2001, in less than an hour, Andrea drowned all of her children in the bathtub, one by one. ![]() (1) Over the next seven years, Andrea (2) gave birth to five children and suffered one miscarriage, all the while plunging deeper into mental illness. Andrea Yates, high school valedictorian, swim team champion, college graduate, and registered nurse married Russell ("Rusty") Yates in 1993 after a four-year courtship. “We are making the forceful case that he is incompetent to be executed.We all know by now the story of Andrea Yates. “He is one of the most mentally ill people ever to be on death row,” she told us. Maurie Levin, one of Thomas’ lawyers, said his defense team will continue to fight to spare Thomas’ life. Thomas and Yates are two severely mentally ill people who committed unfathomable acts but whose cases have had dramatically different outcomes. Since 2007, Yates has resided in the Kerrville State Hospital, where her lawyer, George Parnham, has said she prefers to remain. In 2006, a new jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. It sentenced her to life in prison, however, sparing her the death penalty.īut three years later, her conviction was reversed on appeal after it was discovered that a forensic psychiatrist gave false testimony. In 2002, after being found competent to stand trial for capital murder, a jury rejected her insanity defense. Similar to Thomas, Yates immediately confessed after the killings, saying later that she was trying to save the children from going to hell. After waiting until her husband left for work, Yates drowned each of the children one by one, laying all but the oldest side by side in a bed. After her last discharge, Yates’ condition worsened she had been scratching bald spots on her scalp and later reported that she was hearing voices speaking directly to her through the television. In the months before the killings, the former nurse had been hospitalized twice after being diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, and her doctor said she should not be left alone. It was after being convicted and sentenced to death that Thomas removed his other eye and ate it.Īndrea Yates also had a history of severe mental illness and suicide attempts dating back to 1999, and in June 2001 she held each of her five children underwater shortly after her husband left for work. ![]() Boren was white, and Thomas’ appellate lawyers contended that some members of the jury had been wrongly empaneled after expressing opposition to interracial marriage. Particularly troubling is that Thomas, a Black man, was convicted by an all-white jury.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |