“During
Andrea's confession she explained her actions by saying that she
wasn't a good mother and that the children were "not developing
correctly" and she needed to be punished.” (Montaldo,
2007) Her trial lasted 3 weeks, it was considered one of the most
controversial trials in the country. The jury found her guilty of
capital murder which would usually result in the death penalty.
However, the final decision by the jury was to convict Mrs. Yates of
murder for 3 of the 5 children and voted for life in prison. As of
2006, and after many times the defense tried to retry Mrs. Yates, the
jury had “found Andrea Yates not guilty of murder by reason of
insanity.”(Montaldo, 2007) According to Susan O'Malley, an editor
for the O
Magazine,
Ms. O'Malley attended the trial. As quoted by Susan O'Malley:
The
few who have heard Andrea's 90-minute taped
confession
call it chilling. Andrea, 37, first drowned
2-year-old
Luke, followed by Paul, 3, and John, 5.
She
carried each child's body to the master bedroom,
placed
it on the bed, and covered it with a sheet. As she
was
drowning 6-month-old Mary, Noah, 7, confronted her.
"What's
wrong with Mary?" he asked and then, realizing what
was happening, fled. Andrea chased Noah through the house,
dragged
him to the tub, and drowned him alongside his dead sister.
There
is no evidence that any of the children were drugged.
Next,
Andrea telephoned the police, saying cryptically, "It's time."
(O'Malley, 2002)
(O'Malley, 2002)
Discussion
With
the Andrea Yates case, the research found indicates a true text book
version of her diagnoses of post-partum depression with psychotic
features. According to (Sarason, 2005, p. 343) “About
15% of people with a major depression have some psychotic symptoms,
usually delusions (false beliefs about reality).
We saw this in the research when Mrs. Yates blamed herself for her
children not knowing their ABC's by the age of two as she said they
should of known. She also mentioned she should be punished for this
failure. Although the causes of depression are not yet fully
understood, research suggests it is “
triggered by stressful life events, yet not all people who experience
such events become depressed...” (Sarason, 2005, p. 341) According
to research, it is understood depression can be biological. Within
the limits of Mrs. Yates, it was discovered her family to include her
sister was diagnosed with severe depression as well. Although, no
evidence dictates her sister committed any crimes as did Mrs. Yates.
