Should Andrea Yates get the death penalty? I don't think so.
It's clear the woman had (and may still have) severe mental problems.
I think the law continues to have difficulties in judging cases involving people with mental illness.
Did she commit a terrible crime? Yes.
Should she suffer consequences for that crime? Yes.
The question, to my mind, is - what should those consequences be?
I think she shoud be confined to a mental hospital until she's recovered sufficiently to be a functional member of society. If that recovery takes less than 5 years, then she should spend the remainder of the time in a minimum security prison. (We can argue whether 5 years is fair or sufficient.)
Putting her to death isn't going to serve as a deterrent nor will it protect society.
Compare this case to the killing of Kevin Shifflett. A paranoid schitzophrenic man, Gregory D. Murphy, is charged with stabbing to death an 8 year old boy as he played in the yard of his grandmother's house. A Virginia judge ruled that Murphy can be [link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A34648-2001Apr3|forcibly medicated] to make him competent for court proceedings. That ruling was upheld on appeal to a Federal Court. (Note that this doesn't mean that he's been ruled competent to stand trial.) Neither side disputes that the man has severe mental illness.
Murphy also committed a horrible crime. He committed a terrible random act of violence on a child. He also should suffer consequences for his actions. But I think it's clear to almost everyone that he has terrible mental problems which make him less responsible for his actions than you or me.
Yates killed her children - children she must have loved dearly. She shouldn't be punished the same way as someone who kills out of simple rage, greed or hatred. Her brain disease is a strongly mitigating circumstance.
The brain is a wonderful, beautiful thing. But it is an organic thing and sometimes truly doesn't work properly. Making someone responsible, to the same extent as for you and me, for actions they commit when their brain is diseased isn't productive, logical, nor humane.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
