Andrea Yates - Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Seems the public, and most especially, the jurors, have forgotten the horror of Andrea Yates’ crime, and the circumstances surrounding it.

The day of the crime, a police spokesman described the scene:

On a double bed in a back master bedroom, four children were laid out beneath a sheet, clothed and soaking wet. All of them were dead, with their eyes wide open. In the bathtub, a young boy was submerged amid feces and vomit floating on the surface. He looked to be the oldest and he was also dead.
In less than an hour that morning, five children had all been drowned, and the responding officers were deeply affected.
The children's thin, bespectacled mother---the woman who had called 911 seeking help---appeared able to talk coherently, but her frumpy striped shirt and stringy brown hair were soaked. She let the officers in, told them without emotion that she had killed her children, and sat down while they checked. Detective Ed Mehl thought she seemed focused when he asked her questions. She told him she was a bad mother and expected to be punished. Then she allowed the police to take her into custody while medical personnel checked the children for any sign of life. She looked dispassionately at the gathering crowd of curious neighbors as she got into the police car.

Now Yates will be sent to a mental hospital instead of death row, and odds are she’ll “get well” and be out in a few years – no consequences, no punishment.

Our church has a ministry that goes out into the prisons and preaches the Gospel and has for 20 years or more. Over the years, we’ve seen literally thousands get saved through this ministry.

It’s not hard to talk to a man about his sin nature when he’s in prison having been tried and convicted of a crime. He knows he’s guilty. He knows he’s a sinner. Many times prisoners are ready to hear about Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for their sins, and many do get saved after hearing the good news. But how do you witness to someone like Andrea Yates, who for all practical purposes has been told by the system that she’s not guilty? She cruelly drowned her five children deliberately and methodically …but she’s not guilty? Why should she fear punishment for sin? As far as she’s concerned, she has no sin. She’s just “sick”. And she’ll get well.

There’s an excellent article on the Fox News site about the feminist angle on mothers who murder their children (it’s society’s fault). Here’s an excerpt:

Yates' videotaped confession to the police described drowning Mary, the 6-month-old, in the bathtub. As Yates was doing so, Noah, the eldest child at 7 years old, wandered into the bathroom and asked, "What's wrong with Mary?" Yates ran after the fleeing boy and drowned him next.
Yet, in newsprint and on airwaves, there are compassionate discussions of Yates' mental state. Blame is already shifting onto the shoulders of her husband and society for not recognizing the depth of her psychosis.
There are calls for greater funding of women's health issues. Yates is fast becoming a poster woman for post-partum depression.

As I’ve said before, without sin there is no need for a saviour.