Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

I'm glad that the jury returned this verdict in the latest trial of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her 5 kids when suffering from postpartum depression.

In my opinion, the woman has always been guilty only of getting pregnant over and over again in spite of her doctor's warnings that every pregnancy would increase her mental depression.

As is often the case, religion played a role in the whole ordeal. I don't recall their faith specifically, but I remember, at the time, reading that despite the warnings, the Yates would not use birth control because their faith expressly forbad it.

And so she kept getting pregnant and having babies, feeling more and more depressed until tragedy struck. It was inevitable.

Yates will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released. If convicted, she would have faced life in prison.

Now the woman will spend the rest of her life regretting her actions, and I'm sure that's punishment enough for what she's done. She certainly did not deserve the death penalty (which she got at the end of her first trial) for doing something she had mentally no control over.