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Insanity Plea: The Andrea Yates
Andrea Kennedy Yates married and mother to five children-Noah, John, Paul, Luke, and Mary-was found guilty of killing all five of her children by drowning the children in the bathtub in their home. During the course of the trial, Yates confided that she was “not a good mother” and the children “were not developing correctly” and that she must be chastised. This belief was anchored on the radical teachings of Michael Woroniecki, who taught her that “bad mothers will go to hell and the children these will have will also go to hell.”
In addition, Yates was warned that should be become pregnant again, her psychotic disposition will return, and was prescribed Haldol. However, Andrea’s husband, Rusty, persuaded her to have more children and to stop taking her medication. Her psychiatrist also prescribed her the drug but discontinued the use of the drug, stating that Andrea did not seem psychotic (Montaldo 1). Insanity, in a legal nature, can be defined as a “mental illness of such a severe nature that a respond cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior (Howes 1).
Discussion
The accepted rule in law is that a mental disability, on its own merits, will not be enough to sustain a not guilty ruling founded on a defense anchored on a plea of insanity. The invocation of the “insanity plea” does not automatically warrant the acquittal of the accused; the mental condition must have engendered certain impairment on the defendant’s mental state at the time the defendant committed the crime. Nevertheless, if the defendant is experiencing mental, physical, or cognitive impairment, and as a result of the condition, the person commits a crime, then the condition can serve as a basis for the defense to ask for the acquittal of the defendant, as stated in People v. Griggs, 17 Cal. D 621 (1941) (National Paralegal Council 1).
With regards to the case of the liability of the husband in the case being discussed, Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 17 Cal.3d 425, 131 Cal.Rptr. 14, 551 P.2d 334 (1976), can offer guidance. Here, the California Supreme Court charged medical health professionals to safeguard victims. However, the Tarasoff standard does not apply in Texas, as stated in Tharpar v Zezulka, 994 S.W.2d 635 (Tex. 1999), the Texas Supreme Court desisted from charging medical practitioners to forewarn a third party of a patient’s potential to inflict harm. Under the tenets of Texas law, there are exclusions on the confidentiality agreement that permits the disclosure to the police or other medical professionals of the potential of the patient to inflict harm; the state Supreme Court notes that the law allows the reporting of the findings, but these are not mandatory (Kalmbach, Lyons, 279-280).
Conclusion:
(The immediate question is whether Amanda Yates can be considered “insane” under the tenets of the law, and whether the husband has any liability in the case. In the aforementioned case, Andrea was coherent and methodically filled the bath tub, and drowned them one by one. Thus, it cannot be said that she knew of the process, and cannot state that she did not know her actions. Thus, she cannot be said to be insane under the definition given).
Two, in regards to the husband, the husband was warned of the potential, yet chose to force Andrea to forego her medication. In this light, the husband, by reason of duress on Andrea, can be held liable under this principle (American University Washington College of Law 26).
Works Cited
Howes, Ryan, PhD. “The definition of insanity is” <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-therapy/200907/the-definition-insanity-is
Kalmbach, Karen C., Lyons, Philip M. “Ethical Issues in Conducting Forensic Evaluations.” Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice 2006 2(3) pp. 261-290
Montaldo, Charles. “Profile of Andrea Yates.” <http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm
National Paralegal College. “Insanity.” <http://nationalparalegal.edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/criminalLaw/defenses/Insanity.asp
