Andrea Yates Murder Case Essay

The Andrea Yates Murder Case Andrea Yates had always lead a splendid life, a bright young woman moving on to do great things in the world. No one expected the class valedictorian, swim team captain, and National Honor Society officer to jump off the deep end shortly after her nursing career took off. Unfortunately, the unexpected did take place, and Andrea’s battle with extreme mental illness took off, snowballing for years to come. One day, she could no longer control it, causing her to commit one of the most shocking crimes in history, involving the deaths of her own children, invoking despair in of all of society. Due to the wide publicization of her story, the devastating Andrea Yates murder case brought a grasp of mental illness’s role

Prosecutor Park Dietz had claimed in his testimony that Andrea had gotten her idea to drown the children from an episode of Law and Order, in which a woman drowned her own children but got away with it through the insanity defense. The producers of the television show later came forward and stated that no such episode existed, Dietz simply melded together parts of separate programs. The Texas Court of Appeals decided that was reason enough for a retrial, considering the jury’s difficult primary decision could have been biased by false information. So, on June 26, 2006, five years after her sentencing to life in prison, Andrea’s retrial began. The prime reason why it is so difficult to declare someone not guilty by reason of insanity in Texas is the M’Naghten Rule. It lists that in order to declare a defendant not guilty by insanity, it must be proven that the person is significantly mentally ill and was not able to differentiate right from wrong in the instance of their crime (Levin). There was no dispute between prosecution or defense that Andrea was mentally ill, it was simply if her illness inhibited her judgement enough to meet the legal standards. Her family and defense attorney all believed that there was no questioning the severity of her condition, she simply could not function as a regular human being, and her judgement was clouded. Andrea’s mother-in-law, Dora Yates, who frequently watched over Andrea and witnessed her daily condition, stated, “I don't think she knew how to cope . . . how to function. She would walk around in circles . . . 30 times. She just was not normal,” (Easton). Additionally, Andrea’s attorney, George Parnham, who considers her one of his own because they have grown so close, said,”If this woman doesn't meet the test of insanity in this state, then nobody does…We might as well