Andrea Yates Case

On June 20, 2001, A woman named Andrea Yates drowned and killed her own five kids in her bathtub. Andrea Yates was married to Russel Yates, and together they had five kids between the ages of six months to seven years old. When the news came out about what happened, the population was horrified and outraged. The Andrea Yates case can be explained but not justified, by looking at what happened, the things that led up to the crime and the convictions.
On the morning of June 20th, 2001, in Houston Texas, the news came out regarding Yates’ actions. That morning, Yates waited for her husband, Russel, to leave for work. Shortly after, Yates filled her bathtub with water, and then drowned each of her young five children. She then put the bodies of

Yates was suffering severely from postpartum psychosis and postpartum depression for a long time (Andrea Yates Biography). After the birth of her fourth son, Luke, Yates started struggling with postpartum depression. On June 16, 1999, Yates had an episode. Her husband, Russel, came home and found her biting her fingers and shaking (Blanco). The following day, she tried committing suicide by overdosing on pills. Shortly after that, she went to a hospital, and was given antidepressants. Later, after Yates was released, she had another incident. She held a knife up to her neck and wanted Russel to let her die. She was hospitalized again, and was given more medications, one being an anti-psychotic drug, called Haldol (Blanco). After taking the medication, her condition started improving greatly, so she was prescribed it, and was soon released from the hospital again. In July 1999, shehad yet another episode, which consisted of two attempts to commit suicide and being hospitalized twice that summer (Blanco). She was eventually diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Her first psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, urged the Yates not to have any more children, because there would be a great possibility of psychotic depression in the future. The Yates did not listen to what the doctor said, and they soon conceived Mary, their fifth and last

At the 2002 trial, Yates pleaded not guilty, by using the insanity defense. The insanity defense argues that an individual should not be found guilty of a crime if they have a persistent psychiatric disease at the time the crime was committed. It was proved that Yates could tell right from wrong, so she did not meet the definition of the insanity in Texas (Walsh). The jury deliberated for almost four hours, and finally found Yates guilty. The jury rejected her insanity defense, and Yates was sentenced to life in prison. In 2005, the conviction was reversed by the Texas appeals court. A new trial for Yates was granted, after a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Park Dietz, gave a testimony that affected the jury (Walsh). Yates was found not guilty on July 26, 2006 by the reason of insanity. Since then, Andrea Yates stays in a minimum security psychiatric facility in