Texas Mom's Murder Convictions Overturned

[DelawareValleyDem]

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.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=1&u=/ap/20050106/ap_on_re_us/andrea_yates

[TolstoyAndy]

1. she's guilty

I have no idea why they'd even be appealing this.
She's a poster child for religious insanity and she and her
"pastor" should both rot for life.

[TolstoyAndy]

3. sometimes I read the story before I post

this was not one of those times.
But look at this quote:
= = = =
"Yates' lawyers had argued ... 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,"

= = = =

OK - so
a) why is this "expert witness" talking about a TV show
b) the jury is presumed to be so stupid that the conclusion is 'they heard it was depicted on a TV show, so they must have thought it was true'

[Verve]

2. That is one sad story!

Her suffering is beyond the legal system so I doubt this new event means much to her.

[Moderator]

4. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1125888