Andrea Yates

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Andrea Yates
Born	July 2, 1964

Andrea Pia Yates (born July 2, 1964) of Houston, Texas, United States, committed the filicide of her five young children on June 20, 2001 by drowning them in their family bathtub. Formerly convicted of first degree murder in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison with parole possible after forty years, Yates' conviction was later overturned on appeal. On July 26, 2006, a Texas jury ruled Yates to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Yates was consequently committed by the court to the North Texas State Hospital, Vernon Campus, ^[1] a high-security mental health facility in Vernon, Texas, where she is currently receiving medical treatment and shares a cell with Dena Schlosser.

Contents 1 Background 2 Psychiatric care 3 Filicides 4 Trials 5 Notes 6 References 7 Footnotes 8 External links

[edit] Background

Andrea Pia Kennedy was born in Houston to Jutta Karin Koehler, a German immigrant, and Andrew Emmett Kennedy, whose parents were born in Ireland.^[2] Yates attended Milby High School, where she graduated as class valedictorian. She married Rusty Yates on 17 April 1993, and moved to southeast Houston in the community of Clear Lake City.

Andrea's husband had been a disciple of Michael Peter Woroniecki since meeting him at Auburn University in the fall of 1984. He introduced his wife to the preacher in 1992 before they married. Woroniecki promoted a doctrine that his followers should have "as many children as nature allows", which the Yateses both announced at their wedding that they were going to pursue. In the aftermath of the drownings, investigative reporter Suzy Spencer discovered letters written to Andrea by the Woroniecki family that berated her over her unrighteous standing before God. A newsletter called the "Perilous Times", authored by the Woroniecki's in 1999 was introduced into evidence at her trials to establish the central motivating content behind her psychotic delusions.^[3] Also introduced at the retrial was a video produced by the Woronieckis in 1996 that had pressured the psychotic mother to find an alternative way to save her children. The "hypocritical" Christian life she was accused of living by the preacher would ensure her children's fate in hell.^[4] Yates told her jail psychiatrist, "It was the seventh deadly sin. My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them, they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell."^[5]

Andrea Yates had been treated for postpartum depression and psychosis since the summer of 1999. Her first psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, testified that she urged the couple not to have more children, as it would "guarantee future psychotic depression". When Andrea's problems resurfaced three months after the birth of her fifth child (and were further exacerbated by the death of her father), she came under the care of Dr. Mohammed Saeed. In the immediate fallout after the first trial, Andrea's family wanted Saeed charged with criminal negligence, stating that he had had improperly dosed Andrea's medication, which resulted in the killings.^[6] Although Rusty Yates had considered a malpractice suit against Saeed, he allowed the statute of limitations to expire "in the interest of forgiveness". Expert legal opinion obtained by the Houston Chronicle asserted that Mr. Yates had virtually no winnable case against Saeed in a third party malpractice lawsuit, and that such a lawsuit would have almost certainly incriminated him for parental negligence. ^[7]

According to trial evidence in 2006, Rusty Yates did not follow through with Saeed's orders not to leave Andrea unsupervised, as she was when she killed the children.^[8] Without informing the doctor of his plans, Rusty announced to a family gathering the weekend before the tragedy of his decision to leave Andrea home alone for an hour each morning and evening, so that she would not become totally dependent on him and his mother for her maternal responsibilities.^[9] Andrea's brother, Brian Kennedy, told Larry King on a broadcast of CNN's Larry King Live that Rusty expressed to him in 2001 while transporting Andrea to Devereux treatment facility that all depressed people needed was a "swift kick in the pants". ^[10] Andrea's mother, Jutta Karin Kennedy, expressed shock when she heard of Rusty's plan while at the dinner gathering with them, saying that Andrea wasn't safe enough to care for the children. She cited that Andrea demonstrated she wasn't in her right mind when she almost choked her toothless infant Mary trying to feed her solid food. ^[11]

[edit] Psychiatric care

Yates had been under psychiatric care for postpartum depression since the birth of her fourth child in July of 1999, up until her decision to conceive another child in early 2000. In March of 2001, her fifth child still an infant, and after a radical descent into severe depression following the death of her father about two weeks earlier, Yates was forcefully transported to Devereux-Texas Treatment Network by her brother and husband. She was admitted, treated and assigned to a Dr. Mohammed Saeed the following day. There began a series of various psychotropic drug treatments that, according to Andrea's husband, culminated with an abrupt change to her prescribed medication two days before the murders. Saeed had also abruptly tapered off the antipsychotic Haldol two weeks earlier, a medication that helped Andrea recover in 1999. On June 18, Saeed abruptly increased Andrea's dosage of Effexor, much faster than Russell's research indicated was proper. On that visit, despite Russell's reports that Andrea was not improving, Dr. Saeed wrote in his notes that Andrea was doing well, that he told Andrea to focus on "positive thoughts" and suggested that she see a psychologist. Two days later, on June 20, Russell administered her medication and then went to work, leaving Andrea alone with the children. In the hour between her husband leaving and her mother-in-law arriving, Andrea drowned her five children.

Following the first trial, Andrea's birth family along with the backing of a Scientology-based support group (a group known for their stance against psychiatry), filed a petition with the Houston District Attorney's office to have Dr. Saeed charged with criminal negligence in Andrea's treatment, but prosecutors did not pursue the case after consideration of the matter. Dr. Lucy Puryear told the Houston Chronicle that the doses Dr. Saeed prescribed were commonplace, appropriate and based at the discretion of the physician. Furthermore, she asserted that the prescribed antidepressants had no bearing on the filicides. Instead, she offered that the most likely cause for Andrea's reemergent psychosis was the fact that Haldol's antipsychotic effects had dissipated in the two weeks since she had been removed from it. Although Saeed's misdiagnosis of Andrea's psychosis was responsible for its reemergence, according to trial testimony, Saeed had instructed Russell not to leave Andrea unsupervised since she had a history of suicide attempts. Consequently, Andrea was given the time and space to act on her delusions, which resulted in the deaths of her children.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

[edit] Filicides

On June 20, 2001, Yates drowned all five of her children (Noah, age 7; John, age 5; Paul, age 3; Luke, age 2; and Mary, age 6 months) in the bathtub of her home. She immediately called 9-1-1 and was arrested shortly thereafter.

Her defense lawyer later contended that she was suffering from a severe case of recurrent postpartum psychosis. She may have been suffering from additional mental illness for some years, since a pattern of such disorders is said to have run in her family.

In 2004, Rusty Yates divorced Andrea, and remarried in 2006; however, it is reported that Rusty still remains close friends with Andrea.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trials

Yates confessed to drowning her children. Her defense asserted postpartum psychosis as the reason she committed the killings. Although the defense's expert testimony agreed that Yates was clearly psychotic, Texas law requires that in order to successfully assert the insanity defense, the defendant must prove that he or she could not discern right from wrong at the time of the crime. In March 2002, a jury rejected the insanity defense and found Yates guilty. Although the prosecution had sought the death penalty, the jury rejected that option. The trial court sentenced Yates to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole in 40 years.^[17]

On January 6, 2005, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the convictions because prosecution witness Dr. Park Dietz, a California psychiatrist, had given false testimony during the trial. Dietz stated that shortly before the killings, an episode of Law & Order had featured a woman who drowned her children and was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity. It was later discovered that no such episode existed; the appellate court held that the jury may have been influenced by his false testimony and that thus a new trial would be necessary. However, later on, the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Magnificat" would be based on Yates' case.

On January 9, 2006, Yates again entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity. On February 1, 2006, she was granted release on bail on the condition that she be admitted to a mental health treatment facility.^[18]

Her by-then ex-husband remarried on March 18, 2006, two days before her first scheduled re-trial.

On July 26, 2006, after three days of deliberations, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity, as defined by the state of Texas. She has since been committed to the North Texas State Hospital - Vernon Campus.^[19]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Not Guilty Verdict for Andrea Yates; Missing Girl's Body Found in Utah; Nancy Grace; CNN; July 26, 2006
2. ^ http://www.wargs.com/other/yates.html
3. ^ Excerpt of Perilous Times Newsletter introduced at trial
4. ^ 30 minute audio excerpt of the teaching portion of the video documenting Andrea's preacher condemning her "husband goes to work, wife just exists" hypocritical Christian lifestyle. Her children were doomed because her husband refused to quit his job. Woroniecki necessitated that parents must preach full time on the streets in order to demonstrate a righteous lifestyle to their children, thus properly training them so they could be "saved".Audio clip
5. ^ Christian, Carol, Lisa Teachy. "Yates Believed Children Doomed", Houston Chronicle, 2002-03-06. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
6. ^ Carol Christian, 'Harmful treatment' Family files complaint against Yates' psychiatrist, Houston Chronicle, Apr. 11, 2002Article
7. ^ Mary Flood and Lisa Teachy, Inquiry is likely after TV interview; Houston Chronicle; December 11, 2001
8. ^ Yates not Grossly Psychotic before Drownings Dietz testifies; Dale Lezon; Houston Chronicle; July 13, 2006
9. ^ Suzanne O'Malley, Are You Alone? p. 300
10. ^ CNN-Larry King Live, Jan. 16, 2005 Transcript
11. ^ Cynthia Hunt, "Andrea Yates' Mother Recalls Conversation Days before Drownings," KTRK News, Houston, 3/18/2002[1]
12. ^ Dale Lezon, "Yates not Grossly Psychotic before Drownings Dietz testifies," Houston Chronicle, July 13, 2006 Article
13. ^ Carol Christian, 'Harmful treatment' Family files complaint against Yates' psychiatrist, Houston Chronicle, Apr. 11, 2002Article
14. ^ http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/djglp/downloads/gen10p61.pdf DUKE JOURNAL OF GENDER LAW & POLICY Volume 10:1 2003 TIME LINE OF ANDREA YATES'S LIFE AND TRIAL APRIL 1993 – APRIL 2002 accessed 2006-11-01
15. ^ http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,218445,00.html Andrea Yates: More To The Story Time Monday, Mar. 18, 2002 accessed 2006-11-01
16. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/11/yates.htm Yates' relatives want doctor charged USA Today 04/11/2002 accessed 2006-11-01
17. ^ Andrea Yates: More To The Story Time By Timothy Roche March 18, 2002
18. ^ Psychiatrist: Yates Thought Drownings Were RightJuly 19, 2006
19. ^ Brown, Angela K.. "Jury finds Yates not guilty in drownings", Houston Chronicle, 2006-07-26. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.

[edit] References

• Bienstock, Mothers Who Kill Their Children and Postpartum Psychosis, (2003) Vol. 32, No. 3 Southwestern University Law Review, 451.
• Keram, The Insanity Defense and Game Theory: Reflections on Texas v.Yates, (2002) Vol. 30, No. 4 Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 470.
• Spencer, Breaking Point ISBN 0-312-93871-3, See also author website

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Complete Court TV coverage of the Andrea Yates murder trial
• About.com profile
• CrimeLibrary review
• CNN review of case