New Trial upheld for Andrea Yates by Texas highest Criminal court

[Gothmog]

The Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest Texas court on criminal issues) today upheld the Court of Appeals decision overturning the original verdict against Andrea Yates and ordering a new trial. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3449401

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today upheld a lower court's ruling granting a new trial to Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake-area woman convicted of drowning her children in 2001.

The Austin-based appellate court refused to hear the state's petition for discretionary review after the 1st Texas Court of Appeals ruled in January that testimony from the state's expert witness, -- about a TV episode that never existed -- may have affected the jury's judgment.....

A three-judge 1st Court of Appeals panel based in Houston ruled that Yates' trial was unfair because of testimony from California psychiatrist Park Dietz, the prosecution's sole mental-health expert.

Dietz, who told jurors he had been a consultant on the TV program Law & Order, said one episode portrayed a woman who drowned her children and was found innocent by reason of insanity. He said the episode aired shortly before Yates drowned her children. Prosecutors told jurors that Yates watched the program regularly

[Caoimhe]

1. Fox News say YAY something besides ARUBA! n/t

[CatBoreal]

2. Hope they put Rusty on trial too....

...there isn't a region cold or hot enough in Hell for that bastard.

[tatertop]

3. Rusty should be rotting in prison.

[tularetom]

4. Isn't she the one with the creepy

fundagelical husband? I don't have much sympathy for her but that asswipe was responsible for her mental condition right up to his prissy little eyeballs. He should receive at least the same sentence as she does.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. You don't have sympathy....

for a woman sufferering from post-natal pychosis??

[Caoimhe]

6. She is deeply disturbed

that much is obvious. As a wife and mother, her emotional and physical needs were completely disregarded by her husband. That should count for something. These religiofascists that think women should be brood mares don't understand the complexity of mental illness and instead of dealing with these issues they label moms like her as "weak". The whole thing makes me sick and sad.

The fact that Rusty divorced her and found another broodmare immediately speaks volumes as well.

[DistressedAmerican]

7. I AM Very Glad. She Is As "Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity" As They

come. The criminal conviction was an injustice. She should never walk the streets again. But, putting her into the general prison population is not the answer.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. I am so happy about this. A woman who was suffering from psychotic

post-partum depression never should have been put on trial for murder as if she was in a rational state of mind at the time she killed her children.

I had severe post-partum depression when my oldest son was born and it lasted for months. Mine was more of a neurosis and thank goodness I never acted on some of my horrible thoughts. As my hormones leveled off, all was ok.