License to Kill Babies

Andrea Yates, the Christian woman who claimed that she heard voices that caused her to kill her five children, was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She’ll be confined to a mental institution with periodic reviews to determine when she can be released.

The children's father said the jury had reached the right conclusion.

"The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened," Rusty Yates told reporters outside the courthouse.

Rusty, you’ll recall, was the guy who basically wanted to keep Andrea barefoot and pregnant because of his deeply religious views. Once she killed the children, he divorced her and remarried.

Just wondering what the Christian Right’s position is on this verdict. Do they agree that juries should look at “why it happened”? And does that hold for poor black kids as well as Christian white women?

Comments

[Bob]

They're not going to fry her; they're going to ply her with drugs. Once she's released, maybe she'll kill again. And if we're lucky...

[TCO]

She's responsible for her own actions. It is not her husbands fault. She deserves to die. Fry her.

[Bob]

Brian, I assume you left out a "she" from your comment. I'm torn, honestly. There's solid evidence that she knew it was wrong, which is the key re insanity defenses. On the other hand, how can any sane person murder her five children?

He, on the other hand, should be drawn and quartered.

I'm just curious how the Christian Right is responding to this.

[Bob]

Hi Muara. Hope all is well.

Indeed, Rusty Yates seems most culpable here. And he's acted most unChristian-like to my mind. Wonder if his new wife is suffering as Andrea did.

[Brian]

I'm going to assume that the jury heard far more info than has been available to the rest of us. That would explain why it disregarded things like her 911 call. That said, the problem with this verdict is that might be released at some time in the future.

As for the Christian Right, didn't Pat Robertson want a Texas killer spared the death penalty because of her prison conversion to Christianity? Why, yes, he did. She must have been the only one.

[Maura]

The only person I ever thought should have been held responsible for those children's deaths was Rusty Yates. That poor woman suffered from terrible mental illness and he was warned that she should not become pregnant again. He kept her isolated at home home-schooling their kids in their converted school bus while he went to work at his high-powered job. The poor woman cried out for help so many times, even attempting suicide.

And now that horrible man has divorced her when she needs him most. So much for the sanctity of vows from such a devoted "Christian". So much for "in sickness and in health".

I know I sound horribly judgemental, and I guess I really am in this case. Everything I have read about that man and his so-called "Christianity" is just appalling. My heart goes out to Andrea Yates - she is facing a lifetime of excruciating suffering and regret for what she did while her "husband" goes on with his "new family" and abandons her to her misery alone.