2 Texas murdering moms, one guilty, one not.....why?

[mopaul]

two tales of texas mothers, murdering all of their children because god told them to, one is sent to life in prison, while the other, just yesterday, is found not guilty, by reason of insanity. why the disparity?

one could argue that both women are insane, pointing out that only a madwoman could drown or crush the heads of her own sons in a sudden frenzy. both women held deeply religious views apparently, but most mothers don't do what they did. without getting into why anyone would kill their kids in this way, just because voices, or god told them to, how could one texas jury declare one mother guilty and another jury not, of the same crime, with the same motivation?

why is one murdering mother deemed insane, and the other not?
these cases have popped up all through history, and sometimes the murderer will insist that it was satan who compelled them to commit murder, not god. so who is crazier, mothers killing on orders from god, or from satan?

and why does god ask people to kill anyway? couldn't he 'theoretically' kill anyone he wanted, without asking for someone to do it? i don't get it. but apparently, god does occasionally impose upon someone to do some smiting, whether it be the neighboring non-believers, or your own children, as in Abraham's case.

and while i'm at it, this mom who got off o.j. free yesterday, she said that god asked her to kill her children as a proof of her faith, as in the tale of Abraham and his offering of his own son to god. so now, after she's killed the kids, and proven beyond all doubt how faithful she is, why is she being sent to prison? is this her reward for making the ultimate sacrifice of faith? or perhaps, she sees the reward as coming after her death, in the great beyond.
it's a real mindblower, any way you look at it.

[NaderIsMyHero]

1. One was in Houston and the other in the bible belt of Texas..eom

[bleedingheart]

2. What kind of God do these women worship that tells them to kill

their children as a sacrifice?

I swear that these women and those around them put immense pressure on them to be "perfect"...including homeschooling their children.
It was their religion that drove them nuts.

[kitkatrose]

6. Obviously they forgot to finish the story

of Issac and Abraham. God said did say stop. :( :cry:

[Killarney]

3. It comes down to the jury, unfortunately.

[booksenkatz]

4. I said this in an earlier thread

and will repost here, because I could not agree with you more.

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Andrea (Yates) said that Satan told her to do it, whereas Deanna said that God told her to do it. Andrea=bad, Deanna=good. See the difference now?

In this case, the thing that the defense kept hammering over and over and over again was that Dee believed in the infallibility of God's word. INFALLIBILITY OF GOD'S WORD. INFALLIBILITY OF GOD'S WORD. Repeated over and over again. By the end of the week, this was NO LONGER a case about mental illness, it became a case of "A vote for Dee is a vote for God; a vote against Dee is a vote against God." Those jurors didn't even consider the important evidence that Dee a) hid things from her husband, b) called 911, c) chose to ignore God's command that she kill her husband, and d) chose to ignore God's command that she kill all of her sons because she didn't kill the first one, but chose to kill the other two. She had lots of choices about right/wrong going on that night, which is the ONLY LEGAL standard in Texas. The thing everyone keeps forgetting in these threads is that the legal standard in Texas is quite simple and has little relationship to the psychiatric standard.
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I also said this in the same thread, along the same lines:
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No one in my earlier thread ever addressed the idea that we put away Charles Manson's girls, who did the same thing Dee did. Clearly Susan Atkins was insane when she stabbed Sharon Tate and tasted her blood. Did Susan get locked up because her God (Charlie) was the wrong God? If we say that Dee is not guilty, then we certainly owe Susan, Leslie and Patricia an apology. They've been in prison for about 30 years. Each of them has received treatment and each is extremely remorseful, but it's doubtful they'll ever see the light of day again. That's what they get for worshipping the wrong God, I guess...? (Am trying to figure out the difference between them and Dee.)

I guess when Osama is caught, we'll throw the book at him, too, since his God is also the wrong God.
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[Mikimouse]

5. Without getting too political about it...

If you saw the pictures of the one that was acquitted, you probably noticed that she did not seem to be lacking much in terms of resources (even had her hair nicely done for the occasion). Andrea Yates, on the other hand was never shown in a positive light. There are probably issues of social class (dare I suggest that there may be questions about political affiliation as well?) As far as I am concerned, this is pretty classic. Those with social capital get away with murder, while those without, go to prison for life, or receive the death sentence. Just my $.02 worth.

[WolverineDG]

7. it's complicated

first, the mom didn't get off "scot free." there will be a hearing to determine which institution she should be placed at & what course of treatment she will follow. if at some point she regains her sanity, she can be released.

second, i think this outcome was a natural offshoot of what happened to andrea yates. that woman was clearly insane, yet the prosecution got away with putting on false testimony from a expert who claimed he (or she, can't remember) worked with the Law & Order TV show on a script about a mom who claimed insanity after killing her kids & the information he/she gathered during the course of researching the L&O episode led to the expert's conclusion that Andrea made it all up & was in fact sane. Since the L&O folks came out & denied this "expert's" story, & it has been determined to be an out & out lie, andrea's attorneys are pursuing a reversal & new trial for her. people were pretty ticked off by that, plus that fact that russel yates, who housed andrea in a tiny mobile home with 3 of those kids before they moved to their larger house & had 2 more kids, now has a nice, spacious $100K condo where he lives by himself. :grr:

while prosecutors in texas do not hesitate to indict & convict moms of murder by omission when fathers, current husbands, or boyfriends kill their kids, they didn't pursue these charges against russel yates, even though HE KNEW his wife was mentally unstable.

as a christian, i cringe when i hear people say "god told me to kill this person." god doesn't tell you to kill people, imo. satan does.

dg

[stellanoir]

8. yet when g-d

tells * to bomb two countries, he carries on with impunity and with all too many going "yay verily". Ughhh.

The amount of remorse any mother would feel after committing such unthinkable crimes can not compare with whatever penalties the judicial system can possibly impose upon them.

I think Yates' incarceration with only marginal psychiatric care was despicably insensitive.

Yet what do I know? I think all murder is insanity.

[seabeyond]

9. after having my first child

a couple months old, sleep deprivation and a hormonal mess, middle of the night feeding my baby i looked at baby in the dark and he looked like an old man, evilness. i felt strongly i was holding a little old man and so grossed out i envisioned throwing him out of the window. and a couple other times thru that period i would be emptying the diswasher and see knives fly from my hand over to where baby was, and i was such a retard trying to get those knives in the drawer.

i didnt know what was up, i didnt understand, and it wasnt a constant. but 9 years later i still remember those feelings and so i have a little more empathy and understanding for whatever reason how messed up a mother can become in the brain at this time.

both women had little ones too. that is a period of hormonal imbalance. all different levels and extreme in this behavior.

not a validation or justification, but all that know me and the kind of mother i am, no one would have imagined i had these thoughts.

[stellanoir]

11. seabeyond. . .

I don't believe there is a stronger intoxicant than hormones. Supposedly, the endocrine glands don't stabilize for two years after your delivery date, even if you miscarry or abort.

I remember feeling after my son was born. . .babies are so-o-o dependent and everyone has a mother, no wonder so many are so screwed up. I never felt anger towards my son, but did so towards his flaky father.

Kudos for you for coping well with those very hard to deal with impulses.

[OHdem10]

10. Could the fact that the Media

covered Andrea Yates 24-7 forever it seems. I do not remember much attention being given to Laney other than it happened--and now the trial. Jurors are influenced by media coverage. Even last night I heard a reporter qestioning this decision. The Media tends to deal in absolultes. Did none of them receive any philosophy in their education.?
They cannot deal in something as nuanced intent or "will". There is a dead body somebody must be punished.. Having ones"s mind working normally
enough to form a decision is not up for consideration. Watch the media --everything is black or white--rigaht or wrong.No extenuating circumstance. This was the cloud hanging over Andrea yates. The Laney Jurors had not been infected with this thinking and all the specialists(Mental Health) agreed she was Insane. Thus the jury was more open to an insanity defense.