Andrea Yates Will Get New Trial
Andrea Yates, the mother who drowned her five children in the bathtub, will get a new trial.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, left intact a lower court's decision that overturned Yates' convictions.
In January, the lower appeals court found that an expert prosecution witness, Dr. Park Dietz, presented false testimony. Dietz told jurors Yates may have been influenced by a "Law & Order" episode, but the episode did not exist.
Yates' lawyer says this new trial is a 'mixed blessing', in that she will have to relive the death of her children. But, he feels she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. He wants to try and strike a plea deal that would send Yates to a mental health facility rather than back to prison. He did not seek her release after the hearing, because she is receiving medical treatment for postpartum depression.
Linked at Third World County - Open Trackbacks Wednesday.
Linked at Conservative Cat - Permanent Floating Trackback Festival
2 Comments:
Interesting article. Raises more questions with me than it answered, though.
"He did not seek her release after the hearing, because she is receiving medical treatment for postpartum depression."
?!?!?
*sheesh!*
BTW, thanks for the link and for playing in my Wednesday Open Trackback. (I know the typo in my blog name's common; several folks have commented that they think I selected "third world county" just so I could trip people up with the "countRy" typo.
OK, maybe they have a point.
:-)
David, I goofed! I read 'county' and typed country. Spell checkers don't catch words that are spelled correctly. :) Just changed it on the article.
As for Yates, I don't think her lawyer wanted her released at all, just put in a mental institution so she could get help. I don't think she'll ever be released into the public.
Post a Comment