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Legal analysis of the andrea yates case
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Andrea Yates and John Hinckley present two different cases that lead to the conviction of not guilty by plea of insanity. It could be believed that Hinckley’s case helped set up the initial verdict in Yate’s case. While there was debate amongst experts of what type of mental illness had, he was later diagnosed with narcissistic and schizoid personality disorders and dysthymia. Even though he had a mental illness, it was argued that by the prosecution that he was legally sane at the time he attempted to assassinate Pres. Reagan. Hinckley’s case broke precedent in being the first trial to spend so many resources on psychologist and psychiatrist to become expert witness on trial. It is thought that because Hinckley experts deeming him insane,
Debated as one of the most misrepresented cases in American legal history, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald still fights for innocence. Contrary to infallible evidence, prosecution intentionally withheld crucial information aiding MacDonald’s alibi. Such ratification included proof of an outside attack that would have played a major role in Jeffrey’s case.
Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your attention today. [Slide #2] I would like to assert that separation is not the end of a relationship. Divorce is not the end of a relationship. Even an arrest is not the end of a relationship. Only death is the end of a relationship. In the case of defendant Donna Osborn, her insistence that ‘“one way or another I’ll be free,”’ as told in the testimony of her friend Jack Mathews and repeated in many others’, indicates that despite the lack of planning, the defendant had the full intent to kill her husband, Clinton Osborn.
...hiatrist by the name of John Hopper. Although John Hinckley Jr. was already taking antidepressants, the psychiatrist felt that John did not contain a mental illness, but rather was suffering from "emotional immaturity”. Hopper felt that the best solution to correct this immaturity was to completely cut of John Hinckley Jr. from the family. Putting their faith in the psychiatrist, the family did just that.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys attempted to argue Salvi was suffering from psychological disorders that would make him incompetent for trial. Ultimately, however Salvi was found competent to stand trial. After reading Salvi’s full psychiatric interview, the official court transcript of the four-day competency hearing, and the day-to-day summary; I have come to agree that the defendant, John Salvi was competent to stand trial.
When viewed from a strictly medical, psychological aspect, Andrea Yates medical history indicates that after the birth of her first child, she began to suffer from various forms of depression and suicide attempts. If one only examines the paper trail and doesn’t think beyond what the medical history does or does not indicate, then perhaps, Andrea would be innocent by reason of mental insanity as the 2006 acquittal suggest. However, when viewed form a legal aspect there are several inconstancies that challenge if this former nurse was insane or if she in fact premeditated the murder of her children as well as her acquittal.
“Not Guilty” doesn’t mean the person didn’t commit the crime, it just mean that when the person committed the crime he/she could not tell right from wrong. I believe that Andrea profile does not fit the profile of legally insane. Yes, Andrea has major mental issues and suffers from many mental diseases, however, at the time of the murder I believe she was at the right state of mind. Under the definition of law a person can only be declared insane if at the time of the crime the person was unable to understand right from wrong and knew the consequences of his/her actions. She knew that it was legally wrong to kill another human being thus waiting to do it when her husband was not home who was of solid mind. She also planned out which child to kill first because of them alerting the other children and risking them escaping. She was found guilty but ended up having a second trial which she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. According to a juror, during the time of the Yates case, the Insanity Law in the state of Texas stated, "As a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his/her conduct was wrong", this would be changed to, "as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, the defendant was unable to appreciate the nature and
Over the past few years there has been increased scrutiny on the use of the insanity defense. Some of the more notable cases are those of Chris Kyle's murderer, Eddie Ray Roth, and the Colorado theatre murderer James Holmes. Interestingly enough it seems that perhaps these two cases would have been vastly different had it not been for the backlash to the results of the Hinckley trial. These two cases are used as comparison only because of the notoriety and the amount of media coverage associated with them i.e., they are more in the public view than others. These may not be the best examples but, they do show the general pattern of insanity defense cases results that could have been vastly different had there not been backlash and subsequent
Fifty years ago, a person breaking the law would either be called crazy or a criminal. Today, the mental health community has much more specific diagnoses. However, the explanation of certain behaviors may be difficult because there is much overlap among mental conditions. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. In both the book and film adaptation, Bateman’s actions can be understood more accurately when analyzed in light of modern psychology.
Andrea Yates was born on July 2nd, 1964 in Houston, Texas, and she was raised in the Houston area (Denno, 2003). Her father was a retired auto shop teacher who died of Alzheimer’s disease shortly before the murders of Yates’s children, and her mother Jutta Karin was a home maker (Denno, 2003). Andrea was the youngest of five, and was a high achiever; and in high school she was captain of the swim team, a National Honor Society member, and valedictorian of her 1982 graduating class (Denno, 2003). She continued her education at a two year nursing programming at the University of Houston, then she went to the University of Texas School of Nursing in Houston graduating in 1986 (Denno, 2003, p.7). During the years from 1986 to 1994 she was employed
Yoong, Gideon. "Top 10 Most Notorious Insanity Defense Cases." Listverse. (2012): n. page. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. .
On New Years Eve 1984 Christine Jessop a nine-year-old girl from Ontario, Canada was found murdered in a field about fifty kilometres from where she lived. Christine Jessop’s body had been left in disgusting position, she had also been sexually assaulted and decapitated. The police felt they needed to arrest this killer before another similar crime could be committed. After extensive investigation by the police of at least three hundred and fifty suspects, a young musician and next door neighbour of the Jessop’s, Guy Paul Morin was arrested and spent eleven months in jail waiting for the case to be brought to trial. Whilst incarcerated, an undercover officer was placed in Morin’s cell to try and extract information from him relating to the crime. This was done because the police were aware of the weakness of their case. In all the time Morin was under observation, by the undercover officer, he at no point admitted any involvement in the murder of Christine Jessop. In 1986 the case went to trial, mid-way through, in an astonishing tactic Morin’s lawyer tried to prove that he was schizophrenic. The jury didn’t believe the evidence of the schizophrenia, but never the less Morin was still acquitted of the crime.
Much of my skepticism over the insanity defense is how this act of crime has been shifted from a medical condition to coming under legal governance. The word "insane" is now a legal term. A nuerological illness described by doctors and psychiatrists to a jury may explain a person's reason and behavior. It however seldom excuses it. The most widely known rule in...
While insanity was a growing topic in America, there were only two options for those opposed as threats: those who were considered “mad” were either locked up or hidden from society, and even those who stood out also were looked at more closely. In fact, the main idea on how America could possibly become a ‘perfect’ society included locking up the ones that truly needed help, because obviously their feelings aren’t valid. In order to obtain a good reputation, the main goal was to minimize the
The insanity defense first came about when half the states started to follow the M’naughten rule based on the 1843 British case of Daniel M’naughten, a deranged woodcutter who attempted to assassinate the prime minister. He was suffering from paranoid delusions thinking the man that his murder was out to get him. Even during this time his case was controversial on whether the jury was given the appropriate standard for the determination of whether Defendant was legally insane. Another example is in the much publicized case in 1984 acquittal of John W. Hinckley Jr for the attempted assassination of president Ronald Reagan. Hinckley fired six shots in 1981 outside a hotel in Washington in a deranged attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, striking the then president nearly fatally. Today he is out of the mental institution after 30 years, but is kept under close watch. These two were both major cases in history with the use of an insanity defense.
Insanity, automatism and diminished responsibility all play a significant role in cases where the defendant’s mind is abnormal while committing a crime. The definition of abnormal will be reviewed in relationship to each defence. In order to identify how these three defences compare and contrast, it is first important to understand their definition and application. The appropriate defence will be used once the facts of the cases have been distinguished and they meet the legal tests. The legal test of insanity is set out in M’Naghten’s Case: “to establish a defence…of insanity it must be clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.” To be specific, the defect of reason arises when the defendant is incapable of exercising normal reasoning. The defect of reason requires instability in reasoning rather than a failure to exercise it at a time when exercise of reason is possible. In the case of R v Clarke, the defendant was clinically depressed and in a moment of absent-mindedness, stole items from a supermarket...