Getting Away With Murder

This is a travesty, and in Texas no less!

HOUSTON — Andrea Yates' capital murder convictions for drowning her children were overturned Thursday by an appeals court, which ruled a prosecution expert witness gave false testimony at her trial.

Yates' lawyers had argued at a hearing last month before a three-judge panel of the First Court of Appeals in Houston that psychiatrist Park Dietz was wrong when he mentioned an episode of the TV show "Law & Order" involving a woman found innocent by reason of insanity for drowning her children.

After jurors found Yates guilty, attorneys in the case and jurors learned no such episode existed.

"We conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz's false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury," the court ruled. "We further conclude that Dr. Dietz's false testimony affected the substantial rights of appellant."

There is, perhaps, no crime more heinous on this earth than murdering one's own children. A mother, perhaps even moreso than a father, is obligated by more than just morality; she's obligated by nature and biology to safeguard the lives of her children. Parents should be trusted above all others, particularly for children as young as Andrea Yates'.

She pleaded insanity, and her lawyer said that she didn't know the difference between right and wrong when she murdered her children. Nonsense; she called the police after she'd done it! You don't call the police if you don't understand that you've done something wrong.

This is such a reprehensible ruling, I scarcely have words to describe it.