You all may have noticed that the jury in the Yates case did not take very long to convict her, rejecting her defense on grounds of insanity. While I am not an admirer of the Texan justice system, this is not as callous as it may seem. It appears that the definition of "insane" for purposes of deciding criminal guilt is, by Texas law, not unlike the classic McNaughton rule, which basically turns on whether or not you knew, at the time you did what you did, that what you were doing was wrong. This is an outmoded notion used in few civilized places any more. But it must have been very clear to the jury (her own admissions were very damaging) that she did not fit the Texas definitin of insane; hence they had no choice but to find her guilty of murder.

A friend of mine is a psychologist who is employed by the local courts. His main job is to evaluate the mental condition of criminal defendants. We do not have, in Maryland, the same standard as in Texas, thank God. Before the question of "sanity" is even raised, the first job is to determine if the defendant is capable of assisting in his own defense. If not, he/she does not even go to trial, but to a state mental hospital until such time as found competent to stand trial. Then the question of "sanity" has to be raised, but we don't use that word here; I forget what the language is.

But as my friend has discussed with my wife and me many times, the term "insanity", or whatever substitute is used in legal terms, has no meaning in mental health terms. The whole concept of being in one way or another "sane vs. insane" or "competent vs. incompetent", etc. is something which exists in the law. To a health professional, the questions are "sick vs. well". It appears that everyone in Texas knows perfectly well that Mrs. Yates is a very sick woman, but that doesn't keep her from being "sane" and therefore legally a murderer and liable to spend the rest of her life in prison. It seems that even Texas prosecutors had no stomach for pressing for the death penalty, which might be more merciful. Indeed, even life in prison might be preferable to what could have been her fate if her lawyers had succeeded in making good on the insanity plea. If the Texas institutions are like the one in MD for the criminally insane, prison is preferable, according to my friend, who is very familiar with conditions in both. A truly horrible tragedy. It is heartbreaking to think of the poor woman's suffering already and what she will yet endure.