By Matt for the TIB Network:
According to the
Houston Chronicle, child murderer Andrea Yates' conviction has been overturned:
The Texas First Court of Appeals reversed today the murder conviction of Clear Lake mom Andrea Yates, who's serving a life sentence for drowning her children in a bathtub.
The three-member appeals court granted Yates’ motion to have her conviction reversed because, among other things, the state’s expert psychiatric witness testified that Yates had patterned her actions after a Law & Order television episode that never existed. In ordering a new trial, the appellate court said the trial judge erred in not granting a mistrial once it was learned that testimony of Dr. Park Dietz was false.
...
In 2001, Yates confessed to drowning her five children, ranging in age from 7 years to 6 months, but she pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Her case generated national interest and put a spotlight on postpartum depression. The case also raised questions about Texas’ legal system when it deals with the insanity defense.
During her 2002 trial, Yates’ attorneys argued the stay-at-home mom, who was under psychiatric care, didn't know right from wrong when she filled up the family’s bathtub and drowned her children one by one. The Harris County jury deliberated just 3-1/2 hours before convicting her of drowning three of her children. She was not tried in the deaths of her other two children.
Yates could have received the death penalty, but the jury sentenced her to life in prison instead.
For a biographical profile of Andrea Yates, click
here. A miserably distressed woman committed the most heinous of crimes... I pity her, but I don't think she should be set free.
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Michelle Malkin has more on Dr. Dietz.
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