Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Texas Insanity
The real insanity in Texas is the law about criminal liability. For people who hear voices, and then commit criminal acts, it works this way: if God tells them to do something, they are insane; if the devil tells them to do something, they are sane. I am not making this up!
A woman in east Texas cut off the arms of her infant daughter, who bled to death. She said God told her to do it. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Andrea Yates drowned her children. She said the devil told her to do it. She was found guilty.
I know there are high passions about Andrea Yates, but from the day she drowned her children, I have had only a great sadness for her. You can see in the home videos that she adored those children; you can see in her first court appearance that, as the Professor put it "there's no one home." In my opinion, the psychiatrist who took her off her anti-psychotic medicine, and who refused to re-admit her to the hospital just two days before the drownings, is the person with blood on his hands.
What do you think?
A woman in east Texas cut off the arms of her infant daughter, who bled to death. She said God told her to do it. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Andrea Yates drowned her children. She said the devil told her to do it. She was found guilty.
I know there are high passions about Andrea Yates, but from the day she drowned her children, I have had only a great sadness for her. You can see in the home videos that she adored those children; you can see in her first court appearance that, as the Professor put it "there's no one home." In my opinion, the psychiatrist who took her off her anti-psychotic medicine, and who refused to re-admit her to the hospital just two days before the drownings, is the person with blood on his hands.
What do you think?
5 Comments:
I totally agree with you. That poor woman was deeply disturbed with post partum depression. I also think her husband should take some of the blame. She had been suffering from PPD after her first few children, and shouldn't have had more.
I think the whole idea of not guilty by reason of insanity is ridiculous.
Shouldn't it be GUILTY by reason of insanity?
Yes... You did it. You are guilty! Oh... you are nuts? That's ok... we have places for nutcases too...
But - for all of these folks who kill their children... sane or not... they should die the same way.
I just can't look at a child murderer and say "that poor woman".
Well I suppose I agree with you. That woman that cut off her daughters arms and let her die is guilty in my book.
I totally agree with you on Andrea Yates. As much as I hated to see that her children died, I knew that she didn't mean to do it. I have a friend that in bi-polar/manic depressent and I know what "not at home" is all about. I have seen her when she was in that state and it was very sad. Her body was there, but her mind was out to lunch. I think Rusty Yates should take a lot of the blame for what happened. He did not do much to help his wife with her problems. I don't know, but when I saw the facts, I just couldn't blame Andrea.
Guppyman - I think Andrea is probably surviving in a living hell over what happened. No one could punish her better than herself. I don't think she should have any more children. It's a hard thing to say, but God will be the ultimate judge of what happened.
Okay, Gup, I agree with you on the "guilty by reason of insanity" part. This new trial is not about setting her free. She will be locked up for the rest of her life. It's just a matter of whether it's in a prison or a mental institution.
I want to ask you something, and I'm not being flip or cute ... and, no, I don't know the answer. But this is the one time when the question "what would Jesus do?" might be the most appropriate one. Would he cast out the demons? Would he tell her to go and sin no more? Would he forgive her? Would he call the crowd over to stone her to death? Would he tell them that she will suffer, for all eternity, far more punishment than they could mete out? When he said "insasmuch as ye have done unto the least of these, ye have done unto me", did he mean harm as well as good?
I agree with you. And I also think Guppy makes a good point - people who do terrible things because they are insane ARE guilty. But I think for me, the way they are treated should depend on the reasons behind their actions. Calculated murder or mistreatment of someone is different from the actions of these women. And I don't believe we have the right to take anyone's life away, whatever they have done.
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