Andrea Yates found Not Guilty of drowning her five children
GOOD! I hope she opens a daycare center.
"no justice" wrote in message news:2u9fc29osnpjbac5ijrblq8dji0655ac96@news... Yates not guilty by reason of insanity Jury reached verdict after three days Wednesday, July 26, 2006 HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- After three days of deliberation, jurors found that Andrea Yates was legally insane when she drowned her young children in a bathtub. The jury spent 11 hours Monday and Tuesday trying to determine if Yates was legally insane. Wednesday morning, they reviewed the state's definition of insanity and then asked to see a family photo and candid pictures of the five smiling youngsters. After about an hour of deliberations, they said they had reached a verdict. In Yates' first murder trial, in 2002, the jury deliberated about four hours before finding her guilty. That conviction was overturned on appeal. In both trials, Yates, 42, pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Under Texas law, a person can be found insane if, because of a severe mental illness, he or she does not know the crime is wrong. The jury earlier asked to review the videotape of Yates' July 2001 evaluation by Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who testified for the defense that she did not know killing the children was wrong because she was trying to save them from hell. Resnick told jurors that Yates was in a delusional state and believed 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah would grow up to be criminals because she had ruined them. Jurors later asked to review Yates' November 2001 videotaped evaluation by Dr. Park Dietz, the state's expert witness whose testimony led an appeals court to overturn Yates' 2002 capital murder conviction last year. Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, testified in her first trial that an episode of the television series "Law & Order" depicted a woman who was acquitted by reason of insanity after drowning her children. But no such episode existed. State District Judge Belinda Hill barred attorneys in this trial from mentioning that issue. On Tuesday, after jurors asked for the trial transcript involving defense attorney George Parnham's questioning of Dietz about the definition of obsessions, the judge brought the jury back into the courtroom. The court reporter then read the brief transcript, in which Dietz said Yates "believed that Satan was at least present. She felt or sensed the presence." Dietz had testified that Yates' thoughts about harming her children were an obsession and a symptom of severe depression -- not psychosis. Earlier Tuesday, jurors reviewed the slide presentation of the state's key expert witness, Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Yates in May. He testified that she did not kill her children to save them from hell as she claims, but because she was overwhelmed and felt inadequate as a mother. Yates will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released -- although by law, jurors are not allowed to be told that. Prosecutors could not seek death this time because the first trial's jurors sentenced her to life in prison, and authorities found no new evidence. She is charged in only three of the deaths, which is common in cases involving multiple slayings. |
Andrea Yates found Not Guilty of drowning her five children
LaTreen Washington wrote: GOOD! I hope she opens a daycare center. Heh, you never need to scan the headers for alt.support.childfree, you KNOW when a thread is crossposted there. |
Andrea Yates found Not Guilty of drowning her five children
|
Andrea Yates found Not Guilty of drowning her five children
"mc" wrote in message oups.com... wrote: LaTreen Washington wrote: GOOD! I hope she opens a daycare center. Heh, you never need to scan the headers for alt.support.childfree, you KNOW when a thread is crossposted there. Fer sure. mc But this one started there. Kris |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:52 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
ParentingBanter.com