Andrea Yates was a normal girl that lived in Houston, Texas, was valedictorian of her class and the woman that killed her five children in 2001. Yates was diagnosed with postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, which are related mental diseases that happen to new mothers after birth, after her fourth son was born. This case was tried twice, the first time she was found guilty she got life in jail with a possibility of parole after 40 years and the second trial she was found not guilty for reason of insanity. From the second trial she was placed in a mental facility in Texas. By definition of insanity, Andrea Yates was sane when she drowned her five children in her bath tub on June 20, 2001.
Postpartum psychosis is a mental disease that normally occurs in some women after childbirth. A typical example is for a woman to become irritable, have extreme mood swings and hallucinations, and possibly need psychiatric hospitalization. Often, out of fear of stigma or misunderstanding, women hide their condition. Yates had many hospital stays that would have helped Yates get over this. Yates had at least six hopitalizations that should have taken care of the postpartum psychosis.
The morning of the killings, Yates knew when and how she was going to kill her children. Yates planned on killing her children on May 3, 2001 however she stopped herself because she said it wasn't the right time. Yates knew that she was going to kill her children, she planned that she was going to drown her kids and it was also the day that she was left alone for an hour because her husband had to go to work. Yates planned that she would kill her thee middle sons first then she would kill Mary (her daughter) and then Noah (her oldest son).
Yates called the police right after she killed Noah. The police found the three boys placed in her bed. When Yates was questioned by a court appointed psychiatrist she said, "the police is who you call when you've done something wrong," Yates also...