Andrea Yates Retrial

This post originally appeared on another blogsite which has since gone under:

FINALLY, justice prevails!!!

The American legal system is preoccupied with vengeance -- it has never been about justice, as the term is actually defined -- and this has never been clearer than in the case of Andrea Yates.

Even though the original case was tried years ago, and Ms. Yates was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, in a retrial today, the jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. And the reason this is news is simple: her sanity was never in question! There really didn't even need to be a trial!

It absolutely incenses me that anyone would think otherwise! Aside from the fact that she thought she was saving her children from the Devil and eternal damnation (which could be very true), she had a history of mental illness stretching back literally years, which included suicidal and psychotic behavior -- and none of this was ever in question!!! No one, even once suggested she was not ill, just that she should be held accountable for... BEING ILL!!!

Remember Jeffrey Dahmer? He was determined to be stable enough to stand trial! Jeffrey Dahmer!

Yeah! The guy drilled a hole into another guy's head and poured boric acid into it, hoping to make the victim his sex slave! Oh yeah, that's stable. Happens everyday.

Now, if you cannot come to the reasonable conclusion that pouring boric acid into someone else's head to make him a living sex zombie is not a rational act, or that maybe God isn't telling you to drown your children in the bathtub, I find it hard to believe you can logically make any other decisions with any reasonable degree of accuracy. Whether or not he -- or Angela Yates -- realized that what they were doing was wrong is about as relevant as asking if they know how to properly install a transmission.

Does anyone not get that?

People with mental illness are sick -- the same way that people with cancer are sick: they cannot magically heal themselves or just "get over it." Mental illness is not a character flaw or lack of strength or willpower on the patient's part; mental illness is a compound word in which the word "illness" is a key part.

And the idea that we, as a country, would treat these people specifically so that we can get them well enough to stand trial for the things they did when they were ill is so egregious, so wrong, so horrendous... it's just sickening. This is a legal system where you can break into someone's house to rob them, then sue them for shooting you!

Is this thing on? Hello?

Let me make this even easier:

A guy has a heart attack in the shower and manages to crawl outside to find help. Luckily he does. The ambulance makes it in time and he recovers nicely at the hospital. Then, on the day he is released, he's promptly arrested for indecent exposure.

Nice system.