Biography: The Insane Case Of Andrea Yates

Tears ran down 21-year-old Amanda Wright’s face as she listened to the verdict from the jury, for the murder of her mother, Teresa Steller. She could not believe that they were letting a guilty man walk free, because he was diagnosed with being insane at the time of the crime. Teresa was brutally murdered by her husband William Steller, Amanda’s step-father. William dragged Teresa’s body, by her feet, down seventeen wooden steps causing her head to become severely bruised. He then continued to drag her to the kitchen where he stabbed her forcefully thirty-six times. After he stabbed her, he tried to wake her up, but failed to wake his wife’s lifeless body. He then called the police and said he believed his wife was dead, and he did not remember what happen to her. Last thing he said he remembered was hearing evil voices that were trying to kill him. Although this is a fake scenario, many people use this approach in various cases. People found not guilty of a

After reading chapters one and two of the Psychology in Everyday Life book and learning about the four big ideas in psychology, and also while trying to figure out the contributing factors of Andrea Yates’ murder of her children. I have to focus in on and think about big idea two, the biopsychosocial approach, that integrates three levels which are biological, psychological and social/cultural; all together these factors influence and give insight into behavior and mental processes. (CITE BOOK)

DOI: 10.4324/9780203980774 

 This journal article exsplores the insanity as a defence, impaticular reviewing two types of insanity, these being out of touch with reality and delusion. This article also reviews the current legal system and the presumption that all persons are responcible for our actions until proven otherwise, such as having mental illness. Reznek (2007) agrues that a person should be excused if unaware of commiting a wrongful act due to that they where unable to control themselves. This article also details the legal device of the insanity defence as a way of excusing the actions of the person and the influence that it has had on previous cases. This essay would be very appriopiate as a researcher in this current case, as it perceives mental illness as an excuse for being accused of a crime.

I am choosing to write about Aileen Wournos, and how I believe she committed crimes because of the developmental theory. As many know, Wournos had a very difficult and strange life. Beginning with her father being incarcerated for crimes against nature (child sex crime), being abandoned by her mother at age 4, all the way to having sexual intercourse with her own brother. As one thing led to another traits started to develop, leading the way to her murder spree.

I feel a little bit of sympathy towards Andrea Yates, but not so much. The reason is because although Andrea did have mental problems which must have been hard to deal with while taking care of kids I do still believe she was still fully capable of understanding that her actions were wrong. Andrea lived a normal life and showed promise that she would lead a successful life. Andrea grew up with loving parents, she got good grades, and she was liked by everybody, and had a career going for her as a nurse.

This causes many issues within the system due to the lack of evaluation during cases’, and hardly any representations of illnesses. These cases can be altered due to the public opinions during publicized cases which can pursue the judges and create a new outcome of a case. While the insanity plea proves that some criminals are mentally unstable, it should be used with caution because many convicted criminals abuse it during court cases’, imitate being mentally ill during an examination, and are able to avoid the death

Houston, Texas, was home to Andrea Yates; a wife and a mother to Randy Yates and their five children. One morning in the year 2001, she dialed, 911 breathing heavily into the phone “I need a police officer,” (O’Malley). The news over Andrea Yates drowning her children spread like wildfire across the nation, horrifying Americans. Following her confession, she pleaded innocent with the “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” (NGRI) plea, yet the jury rejected her appeal and found her guilty of five accounts of first-degree murder. However, in the retrial of 2006, Yates’ abiding murder convictions were overturned, and Andrea Yates was found NGRI. The change in her verdict instigated disputes whether Andrea Yates was in fact mentally “insane” or criminally aware of her acts and avoiding her consequences.

Andrea Yates taped confession of the murdering of her five children were played for the jurors. In this she explained that she felt she was actually saving her children from being punished for having what she believed was an unfit mother. The 911 call Mrs. Yates made after the crime was also played for the jury. The jurors were also shown the actual crime scene photos of where the murders took place, as well as the how the mother of these five children laid them by each other after she drowned them one by one.

Not calling 911 and hiding the body was morally and criminally wrong. The lack of remorse bothered me as an utter disregard for her dead daughter and selfishness unparalleled. I believe that the prosecution’s putting the death

Although, just because they have a mental illness, doesn't mean that's the reason they did their crime. I believe the insanity defense could have been the best outcome for the defendant, because they would have been treated for their mental

Although the death penalty in Texas costs about three times more than life in prison without parole, it is reserved as the punishment of robbing another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety (Deathpenaltyinfo). It is a valid question to wonder why we should spare the life of one, opting to provide for all of their basics needs when they without question robbed another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety through murder or another cruel action. The case of Andre Thomas raised questions of whether or not the mentally incompetent should be eligible for the death penalty. Thomas murdered two children and the wife he was separated from, maintaining that the act was dictated by God. Statements by Thomas conveyed that he knew that what he had done was wrong after he had after committing the crime.

For example, the dates that I have mentioned in recent explanation do not match up to Casey’s explanations to the FBI and chloroform was used on two year old Caylee and was found inside Casey’s Pontiac sun fire. Not to mention she has many charges of fraud and identity theft. I find that Casey Anthony is guilty of the death of Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony is guilty of the murder of two year old Caylee Anthony.

Insanity is not a valid defense for one main reason. You are either crazy or you are not. In the end, Mack Herring was acquitted for murder. He felt as if he was pressured into doing it and he also thought he was helping her by committing the crime.

The calyee Murder case was one of the most interesting cases for the public in 2011 because in this case the mother of child Casey Anthony was suspected. Most of the individuals would have been found guilty in the situation. A parent killing their own child will make any of them guilty at some point of time. Nobody has expected the judgment in favor of Casey Anthony and this might her not feel guilty for the crime she has committed.

On October 1, 2003, Dawna Cantrell was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband and two counts of tampering with evidence. Ms. Cantrell’s competency was questioned after evaluation by the defense expert, Dr. Eric Westfried. After subsequent evaluation by the state’s expert, Dr. Edward Siegel, both experts found that Ms. Cantrell had a “persecutory delusional disorder” and that her mental illness precluded her from assisting her attorney in her defense. The trial court found her incompetent to stand trial and ordered a dangerousness evaluation.