11/10 - Law & Order / Daily Show / Colbert Report

References on Law & Order to Andrea Yates, such as in Wednesday's episode (which I'm a day late on because of work), are always notable given the role that show actually played in Yates' now overturned conviction.

Yates was charged for causing her children's deaths by drowning them in a bathtub in June 2001. Yates, who pled not guilty by reason of insanity, previously had attempted to commit suicide, had been admitted to psychiatric units, and had reported seeing visions, and she had been under suicide watch less than two months before the drowning incident. Four psychiatrists and one psychologist testified that Yates did not know right from wrong.

However, the prosecution's psychiatrist, who had consulted for "Law & Order," testified that Yates did know that her actions were wrong and that she may have gotten the idea to kill her children from watching a recent episode that showed a woman with postpartum depression drowning her children. There was, in fact, no such "Law & Order" episode at the time.

Yates was convicted and given a life sentence.

That conviction was overturned by a Texas appellate court in January 2005 due to the psychologist's false testimony (opinion on-line here). The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal cases, declined on November 9 to hear prosecutors' appeal of the case.

And, as usual, new footnotes for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Daily Show Guest: Chris Elliott

Colbert Report Guest: Cokie Roberts

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/11/2005 09:31:00 AM