Should the mom who drowned her five children be allowed to leave the mental hospital?
Andrea Yates, the mom who drowned her five children in the bathtub in 2001, wants to be able to leave the state mental hospital for two hours each week to attend church.
Andrea Yates is a former nurse and stay-at-home mom who had a history of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide attempts before the fatal tragedies on June 20, 2001 when she drowned her children one by one.
Andrea Yates was convicted for the crimes, but after an appeals court found her innocent by reason of insanity, she was admitted to a mental hospital for treatment.
Andrea Yates’ attorney George Parnham told ABCnews.com, “She’s been approved by a certain church to attend Sunday services, and I anticipate that that recommendation will be forthcoming from her doctors.”
Andrea Yates confessed to killing her children after calling police to come to her home. When they arrived, they found one child face down in the bathtub, and the other four bodies were laid on a bed and covered with a sheet.
Andrea Yates said she killed her children because she didn’t want them to go to hell, and her defense team argued she was influenced by a preacher from Oregon.
Parnham says that the church Andrea Yates seeks to attend is completely different from the fire and brimstone ramblings of her former preacher, and he expects the doctors to file a letter sometime in the next week.
