Stop, In the name of love?
arf. 
Twisty, you’re breaking my heart.
And as I slowly realized the joke, I found it even funnier.
Lovely. The state government is going to try the man for leaving the children in the care of their mother, said mother whom the state decided did not need to be institutionalized.
I see very many ACLU-type suits in the unlikely event Mr. Yates is charged with anything.
point of clarification. IT was not the ‘state’ that decided that she didn’t need to be institutionalized, it was a physician.
see the other thread in GD re: opinions re: why the state has reason to do so.
[nitpick]
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office makes the determination whether to investigate Russell Yates for crimnal charges, though they do this in the name of the State of Texas. I don’t think that state government can stop Harris County in such a decision.
[/nitpick]
Monty, et. al.: Please don’t hijack this thread. I know you know where the threads discussing Russell Yates’ culpability are. This is a very interesting issue, in and of itself.
I propose, for the purposes of this discussion, that we simply consider the possibility that Russell may possibly end up in jail at some point.
Initially, her 8 year old daughter could not talked and shook her head “no” when asked if she remember anything about the shootings. She continued to deny remembering anything until a therapist she was seeing helped her “remember.” When asked to draw a picture of the killer, she drew a right-handed shooter, though Diane was left-handed. She was allowed to testify.
Diane’s 3 year old son stated on several occasions that “That mean man with a gun shot me.” The statements were never entered into testimony, nor did he testify.
Don’t hijack the thread I started? Hah!
All right, Monty. That’s a fair point. But if you wanted to have yet another argument about whether Russell should have left the kids with Andrea, why didn’t you start a thread about that? I thought the OP was really interesting, and I would like to discuss that issue, please.
As for R. Yates getting custody - I think that would get ugly. Weren’t there witnesses/neighbors who have spoken of him proudly saying (after the birth of child #4) that he had NEVER changed a diaper? Things like that (unable/unwilling to do basic childcare) would weigh pretty heavily against him getting custody, I would think
lawoot: Hmmm… But if he is the biological parent of the child, doesn’t he get custody automatically? If I had a baby, but was unable to care for the baby, wouldn’t my husband have custody? In other words, why would there even be a custody hearing?
Green generally speaking, a biological parent would have presumptive custody rights, but it’s not unheard of for other ‘interested parties’ to bring suit for custody - remember the fight 'tween Nicole Brown Simpson’s parents and OJ for example.
and of course, the state can always step in if they can specify a concern.
I don’t think, however, the aforementioned ‘he never changed a diaper before’ would become the denial of parental rights. Courts generally (and correctly IMHO) take parental rights pretty damned seriously. tho of course there are ample horror stories.
Hopefully the state of Texas will inform the Yates that because of their actions or really non-actions a woman was mauled to death and they don’t have any more rights. I happen to be very liberal, but if you’re in jail because you couldn’t conduct yourself in a civilized manner then your rights should be taken away, sorry.
If conjugal visits were allowed then the woman in jail should be given a depo shot so she cannot get pregnant.
Thanks, wring.
Scarlett, I think you got the wrong high-profile case there . . .
Holy Shit, Mighty Maximino you are so right. That case was on the front page of our paper yesterday and all over the news. What can I say, the brain doesn’t work as well after a Friday at work.
Ok, Yates…the mother who drowned her five children. I cannot ever imagine being in the husband’s shoes. He has lost his whole family. It has gone from 7 to 1. Once his brain starts working again and he’s off medication, which hopefully he is on, and on the therapist’s couch, he is not going to want any conjugal visits. He is going to stay as far away from her as possible.
Wow, the lightbulb goes off 
Luckily Friday is over and the brain has regenerated somewhat. 
Scarlett,
You presuppose that Yates’ brain worked in the first place.
Please remember that one cannot go back to where one has never been.