As you read this, Andrea Yates is sitting in a Texas jail cell.
Yates is the mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub last June. A jury found her guilty of capital murder last Tuesday and then sentenced her to life imprisonment on Friday afternoon. She won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years.
I commend the eight women and four men who served on the jury and decided to lock up Andrea Yates. If she was sane when she murdered her children, she is a cold-blooded killer and doesn’t deserve to ever see the light of day again. If she was insane, she needs help and should not be allowed to walk the streets freely.
However, there is one thing missing from the prison where Andrea Yates will rot for at least the next four decades: her husband, Russell.
Russell Yates spoke at a press conference after his wife’s sentencing. Stupidity of this magnitude belongs only in sitcoms on the WB. Mr. Yates blames the medical community for not properly diagnosing and treating his wife’s mental illness. While we’re at it, let’s blame Boeing for terrorists flying planes into the World Trade Center. Andrea Yates exhibited signs of schizophrenia years before she killed her children last summer. Despite what Mr. Yates would like us to believe, he and the rest of the family were grossly negligent in keeping these five poor children safe from their mother and her unpredictable disease. Give this guy a pat on the back. While we’re at it, let’s give him the “Father of the Year” award. Sorry, Woody Allen, you’ll have to try harder next year.
Mr. Yates told the press that the family had relieved Andrea of all but her most basic responsibilities. Andrea only had to worry about eating, drinking, showering, dressing herself and taking her medication. First of all, Russell, don’t trust your crazy wife to take her pills by herself; that’s naive. Second of all, maybe you should get your vision checked. Your wife’s only responsibility is personal upkeep, and she looks like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. It’s a good thing that a “homely” verdict wasn’t an option for the jury. Since Mr. Yates thought his wife was obviously in the running to be named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People,” he decided to let her try a new responsibility: babysitting!
An article in the March 11 issue of Newsweek discusses the mysteries of schizophrenia. According to the report, “Even among people who have had their illness for decades, and who have periods of clarity (thanks to medication), only some learn to discriminate between the voices everyone hears and the voices only they can hear.” If Andrea Yates did, indeed, suffer from this illness, she probably didn’t realize it. Even if her doctors did not take all the correct actions to stabilize her, the majority of the blame for allowing her to murder her children falls upon her husband.
In Friday’s press conference, Mr. Yates said, “Neither of us saw any indication that Andrea was a danger during that period.” Since his wife would go through spells of staring into space, entranced for hours on end, Mr. Yates and the rest of the family assumed that she was fine. He blames Andrea’s doctors for not recognizing her disease and making efforts to protect the family from her, but you don’t need a degree in medicine to know when something is drastically wrong with another person. Andrea’s two suicide attempts might also have raised some red flags.
Another tremendous problem with the Yates family was it continued to have children even after Andrea was diagnosed with postpartum depression and attempted suicide. Mr. Yates maintains the couple thought they could combat Andrea’s problems with medication. Now, he is blaming his wife’s doctors for not giving her the right medication after she gave birth. I think doctors should have prescribed birth control.
Obviously, the issue of having to apply for a license to have children raises all sorts of moral issues, but I don’t think anyone would object to administering this short test to couples interested in procreation:
1. Have you or your spouse ever had homicidal or suicidal tendencies?
2. Do you think it’s a good idea to kill your children?
3. Have you or your spouse ever had a conversation with Satan?
4. Are you a fan of “professional wrestling?”
5. Do you own any Styx albums?
If the person applying for the license answers “yes” to any of these questions, turn the hose on them; they should not be allowed to procreate. It’s a relief there are no conjugal visits in federal prison.
Unfortunately, nothing is going to bring back the five Yates children. However, it’s a disgrace to their memory if justice is not served properly. Russell Yates told the press, “I want justice in this case more than anybody.” Well Russell, you should start by turning yourself in, because your utter negligence, at the very least, makes you guilty of manslaughter.
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