Andrea Yates
Andrea Yates
Andrea Pia Kennedy Yatesis a former resident of Houston, Texas, who confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub on June 20, 2001. She had been suffering for some time with very severe postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. She was represented by Houston criminal defense attorney George Parnham. Chuck Rosenthal, the district attorney in Harris County, asked for the death penalty in her 2002 trial. Her case placed the M'Naghten Rules, along with the Irresistible Impulse Test, a legal...
ProfessionCriminal
Date of Birth2 July 1964
heard listening music playing radio voice
I was listening to the radio and they were playing some music in my cell. I heard a voice through the music.
children fire evil
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.
real believe psychosis
Severe mental illness like psychosis can lead to a tragedy like this - that people can see things that aren't real and hear things that aren't real and believe things that aren't real, and act in that distorted reality.
became hardened killer loving mother reason serial step treated
Every step of the way, they've treated her like a serial killer for no reason -- a hardened serial killer. And she's not. She's a loving mother who became desperately ill and really did the unthinkable,
against along charges decide doctors drop feeling hospital mental money serial treated waste
If they drop charges against her, then she'd go to a mental hospital and then the doctors would decide when she's well enough to go home, ... They've treated her like a serial killer, and my feeling all along has been it's a waste of the taxpayers' money to prosecute her.
help line
I'd be the first in line to help the jury.
blames says side
One side of me blames her because she did it, but the other side says she didn't because that wasn't her.
depression
because she was having depression from having kids.
gentle loved
She loved our kids, ... kind, gentle person.
act believe distorted hear illness lead mental people psychosis severe tragedy
severe mental illness like psychosis can lead to a tragedy like this -- that people can see things that aren't real and hear things that aren't real and believe things that aren't real, and act in that distorted reality.
care emphasis primary security
the primary emphasis is on care and not security.
children
There are two tragedies, ... One is my children and the other is my wife.
ask needs prayer suffering
My wife, she's really suffering, and I just ask that you say a prayer for her because she needs it. She's suffering right now,
anyone heart
I said, 'Is anyone hurt?' She said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Who?' She said, 'The children. All of them,' ... My heart just sank.