Nathan Merrill XXJUN2012
PS208
Case Analysis of Andrea Yates …show more content…
The conviction later was overturned. When Yates is retried, much of the attention again was on Dietz, who is back on the prosecution's witness list. And now, there are questions about Dietz's conclusions in the Yates case because of his testimony in another trial involving a Texas mother who killed two of her children. Questions have added intrigue to a case in which prosecutors' initial decision to seek the death penalty ignited a national debate over how mental illness and postpartum depression are viewed in criminal …show more content…
After the birth of her fourth child, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sedatives. She was taken to hospital, but was eventually discharged before her symptoms were resolved because her insurance company limited the number of days of inpatient care it would pay for. She was prescribed antidepressants, but did not take them. In a second suicide attempt, she held a knife against her throat and began to mutilate herself and heard voices that told her to “get a knife”.When she became near catatonic, doctors suggested electroconvulsive therapy, but the family rejected this option. Finally, she received a drug cocktail containing an antipsychotic agent. The medication was apparently effective, but Andrea believed she had been given “truth serum”, which caused her to lose control of herself. Despite a psychiatrist's warning that having another child would more than likely provoke another psychotic episode, the Yates had a fifth child. The implication was that Andrea had got the idea for her actions from the television program. However, no such episode had ever aired. This was the false testimony, a mistake Dietz acknowledged, on which the case was eventually overturned and a new trial
PS208
Case Analysis of Andrea Yates …show more content…
The conviction later was overturned. When Yates is retried, much of the attention again was on Dietz, who is back on the prosecution's witness list. And now, there are questions about Dietz's conclusions in the Yates case because of his testimony in another trial involving a Texas mother who killed two of her children. Questions have added intrigue to a case in which prosecutors' initial decision to seek the death penalty ignited a national debate over how mental illness and postpartum depression are viewed in criminal …show more content…
After the birth of her fourth child, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sedatives. She was taken to hospital, but was eventually discharged before her symptoms were resolved because her insurance company limited the number of days of inpatient care it would pay for. She was prescribed antidepressants, but did not take them. In a second suicide attempt, she held a knife against her throat and began to mutilate herself and heard voices that told her to “get a knife”.When she became near catatonic, doctors suggested electroconvulsive therapy, but the family rejected this option. Finally, she received a drug cocktail containing an antipsychotic agent. The medication was apparently effective, but Andrea believed she had been given “truth serum”, which caused her to lose control of herself. Despite a psychiatrist's warning that having another child would more than likely provoke another psychotic episode, the Yates had a fifth child. The implication was that Andrea had got the idea for her actions from the television program. However, no such episode had ever aired. This was the false testimony, a mistake Dietz acknowledged, on which the case was eventually overturned and a new trial