Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with this one. Insane? This is the excuse? The amount of outrage I would like to express falls well short of wanting to inflict upon her the same things she did to her children. The justice of the legal system continually amazes me. I'm going to be sick... --Dan
I don't know about Texas, but up here I've heard it's far worse to be found not-guilty by insantiy. Basically tossed into a hell-hole/institution for life vs. the normal prison population with parole hearings and ongoing publicity. Two very different set of rules. Still horrible and doesn't help undo any of it.
How would it work for a guy claiming the same excuse???? Can you say throw away the key or injection of the lethal variety...... She will get hers one day.
Damn right she's insane. Christianity = insanity. This is like saying the guys who flew into the WTC and Pentagon weren't responsible for their actions because Allah made them insane. WTF. -R
I thought Texas was tough on criminals. Next thing you know, they'll be considering civil unions/gay marriage...
The McNaughen Rule is a pretty tough one to qualify for, and that's what Texas uses: You either must not know the difference between right and wrong, or be unable to control yourself. In this instance, both the prosecution and defense docs thought she qualified. Having said that: The only difference is that the place where she's going is called a maximum security hospital. As a practical matter, there is little difference in the accomodations. The difference is that she may have a chance of getting out, a slim one, but still a chance. She'll have to be certified same before they'll let her out. This is a vey hard defense to make, most lost, about 99% of these defenses fail, so she must have been really wacked out to get the docs and the jury to believe her. Art
Sad, but true. I posted it simply as irony for when a rarely successful "insanity" defense slips through the cracks. It worked for Hinckley, and yet, years later the "insane" Reagan-shooter was ruled "safe 'n sane" enough to not need to be confined. Coming and going, she didn't have remorse for her actions - yet she cried when the verdict was read. Oh, the iron knee. Makes you wonder who is insane, aye?
Rhetorical questions: How come when God told Abraham to kill his kids its o.k.(even though God recended the order), but when God tells someone in Texas to kill their kids its a crime? How come when I talk to God I'm praying, but when God talks to me I'm Schizophrenic? How is it that today we determine people who talk to God to be schizophrenic but 3000 years ago people who talked to God were 'prophets'? Moses comes down from the Mountain 3000 years ago with 'instructions from God' and he gets to have Charlton Heston play him in a movie; someone comming down off a mountain today with 'instruction from God' would get the rubber room. Is Schizophrenia a problem that only surfaced after The Bible was written? Even the prosecution's own doctors said she was nuts, but she deliberated on following God's orders, which would seem to nullify McNaughen (i.e. she knew killing her kids would be deemed wrong by society). It was only after deciding that disobeying God's orders would be worse than obeying them that she carried out God's wishes. Sounds like she did know right from wrong from a societal point of view.
That's only part of the rule. The irresistable compulsion is the other component. That's what got her the innocent verdict. Art
Another stunning example of religious zelotry. ****ing waste of human life that woman is. Also, where the **** were the neighbors? No one saw a crazy hag brutally beating her children in the front yard?
When you live in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere, "home schooling",...there ARE no neighbors! Not that they helped Andrea Yates anyway. Just a sad story. Wanna hear some more? Child Advocates doesn't always arrive on time.
From the book The Faith of George W. Bush: Bush said to James Robinson: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.' God tells woman to kill kids. Woman insane. God tells George to run for president. George leader of the free world. Strange... -R