Andrea Yates conviction was a unjust trial at first and later on the conviction changed to a just one. She was convicted for the murders of her children (Chan). She suffered from depression and had tried to commit suicide (Chan). Yates was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison (Chan). This convictions was later over turned and she wasn’t found guilty anymore because, of insanity (Chan). This was a more fair verdict to me. Yates was mentally ill, She needed treatment and not a torture place like jail. Yates attorney stated “ She committed the murders because, of psychotic delusions and postpartum depression” (Chan). Yes, Yates was guilty because, they were her actions but, she was mentally ill and was a very religious woman.
The nation was outraged. In addition, she was found not guilty of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child of which she was also charged (White 2015) She was; however, convicted on four counts of misleading law enforcement throughout the investigation(News,CNN) Casey Anthony was subsequently sentenced to four years’ incarceration for four counts of lying to the law enforcement during an investigation (Hayes 2011).
Casey Anthony was acquitted of her daughter’s death in July 2011 and maintains her innocence to this day. However, she did serve time for providing false information to a law enforcement officer during her daughter’s investigation. According to Mary Bowerman’s March 2017 article, “Casey Anthony Probably Killed Her Daughter, But by Accident, Judge Says,” retired Judge Perry, who presided over the case, believes Casey may have accidentally killed her daughter.
Looking at the judicial justice system today, it is easy to see that they screwed up in the case of Hae Min Lee and with the sentencing of Adnan Syed to first-degree murder for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Adnan Syed was accused of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee on January 13 1999 after school. With the help of some unstable statements from Jay, and a few other people. He was charged with first-degree murder in February 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Although the prosecution/ defense believes that Adnan did kill Hae Min Lee on that fateful day.
Andrea Yates taped confession of the murdering of her five children were played for the jurors. In this she explained that she felt she was actually saving her children from being punished for having what she believed was an unfit mother. The 911 call Mrs. Yates made after the crime was also played for the jury. The jurors were also shown the actual crime scene photos of where the murders took place, as well as the how the mother of these five children laid them by each other after she drowned them one by one.
The judge sentenced Avery to thirty-two years in prison for a crime that he may or may not have committed. He was told if he admitted to the crime they would release him from jail, but he refused because he did not want to admit to something he did not do. He and his wife got a divorce and he lost custody of all his children while he was in prison. Eighteen years later Avery finally got what he wanted and was proved to be innocent. There was one single hair from the case that was collected and was tested.
After reading chapters one and two of the Psychology in Everyday Life book and learning about the four big ideas in psychology, and also while trying to figure out the contributing factors of Andrea Yates’ murder of her children. I have to focus in on and think about big idea two, the biopsychosocial approach, that integrates three levels which are biological, psychological and social/cultural; all together these factors influence and give insight into behavior and mental processes. (CITE BOOK) After reviewing these, the psychological factors that I believe to have contributed to Andrea Yates’ murder of her children are, firstly biological, Andrea had a genetic predispositions, which means Andrea had an increased likelihood of developing
As Suzy Spencer, a reporter following the case and author of the book Breaking Point, pointed out that many of the people she interviewed said “This could never happen in my family. My wife would never do that.” Thus during the first trial, although no one disputed Andrea as being sane in the time of the murder, the court dismissed her claims of madness. They sentenced her to life in prison in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice with the qualification for parole in forty years. However this decision led to the public and the media to question how can mental illness affect a person’s judgement and how mental illness should be
Both men were successful in their appeals as a verdict of guilty could not be settled upon as the case was based on improbabilities and circumstantial evidence that could not lead to a definite
In June of 2001, the entire nation was deeply disturbed by the horrific acts committed by a suburban Texas housewife, and mother of five. Andrea Yates had drowned all five of her young children in the bathtub of their home. Yates called the authorities and her husband Rusty Yates to the home, where she confessed to killing her children. According to Faith McLellan of the Lancet Medical Journal, Andrea Yates’s bizarre reasoning behind this horrific act was because she believed to have been marked by Satan, and that in order to save her children from hell she needed to take their lives (McLellan, 2006). Yates pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on the basis of mental defect due to postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.
There is a particular order that a criminal court case must follow and if that particular order is not followed then the court case will be deemed unconstitutional. Before a criminal court case can take place, a crime must have been allegedly committed and it is the job of the police to investigate the alleged crime by questioning anyone who may have information about the crime and also by gathering physical evidence. A person must be arrested either on the spot or the officer must have probable cause to believe a crime was committed by a particular person. The prosecuting attorney has to determine if the crime was committed by a particular person or not by reviewing all reports and records, witness statements, and the suspect’s prior criminal
The trial of Casey Anthony was one that struck the nation in a very emotional manner. The trial was on TV for months before anyone could come out with any real answers, and even then, they weren’t the answers they were looking for, and half of them were made up. In the end the jury decided to find her not guilty, while everyone else’s opinion was that she was a cold blooded killer. Unfortunately the proper evidence just wasn’t there in the end to convict her for the first degree murder of her 2 year old daughter Caylee. This being said, if I was on the jury I would definitely have found her guilty because of the, in my opinion, extremely odd behavior that came from Casey during the entire process.
The prosecution did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt; thus, justice was not served for the real victim, Caylee. Although Casey Anthony won in a court of law, she lost in the court of public opinion; thus, being punished by society just as OJ was. References Anthony v State of Florida Case No. 5D11-237 (FL Dist. 5 Ct.
The defendant is pronounced guilty. Those were the words that Adnan’s Syed’s heard as he was being convicted of first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee on Jun. 6 . 2000. The case aroused after the murder of Ms.Lee on Jan. 13 1999. Jay Wilds, a former friend of Mr.Syed had agreed to be interviewed by the authorities for immunity, leading to the state of Maryland building a case against Mr.Syed and leading to his eventual sentencing. After 15 years, journalist Sarah Koenig starts the podcast Serial investigating the murder of Ms.Lee under the notion that there could be a possible mistrial and has now resulted in a retrial.
OJ Simpson and Lizzie Borden Verdict How would you feel knowing that two ruthless murders were walking your town's streets, at your local stores,waving at your children,and talking to your loved ones? It wouldn’t feel pleasant,would it? That’s why Lizzie Borden and Oj Simpson need to be locked up.
When comparing rational choice theory to the Andrea Yates story it is evident that rational theory was in fact present throughout the duration of Andrea completing her heinous crime. According to the document provided via Investopedia, the rational theory could be defined as “... an economic principle that states that individuals always make prudent and logical decisions.” Throughout the case and its entirety, Andrea depicted characteristics of being fully rational and aware of her decisions. Several factors played a key part in determining whether or not Andrea Yates was rational at the time of the crime, factors such as; Andrea exclaimed that “she knew through a “feeling” that Satan wanted her to kill her children,” She struggled back and forth in her mind for one to two months about whether to take the lives of her children or herself. According to the rational choice theory document,