andrea pia yates suffered from severe mental illness including psychotic and post-partum depression...

in 2001 she was found guilty by a jury in texas of killing her 5 children by drowning them in a bathtub...at her original trial in harris county the prosecutor sought to get the death penalty but the jury decided on life imprisonment...her conviction was later overturned after the chief witness for the prosecution was found to have lied on the witness stand, and she is now being retried...

although the death penalty is not an option for a retrial, the prosecutor is again seeking life imprisonment...the alternative verdict, "not guilty by reason of insanity", would probably result in andrea yates being sent to a secure hospital where she could be treated properly for her mental illness...and it is extremely difficult to successfully assert this defense...

the national mental health association (NMHA) believes that mental illness can influence an individual’s mental state at the time he or she commits a crime, can affect how “voluntary” and reliable an individual’s statements might be, can compromise a person’s competence to stand trial and to waive his or her rights, and may have an effect upon a person’s knowledge of the criminal justice system...the statement of the national alliance on mental illness (NAMI) on the andrea yates case was very compelling...

the andrea pia yates support coalition will be holding a candlelight vigil in houston on sunday july 23rd at 8:15pm central time in solidarity with andrea during her retrial...those who would like to send a message of solidarity to be read on sunday should email it to david atwood...