Insanity as a Defence: a Look at Court Cases

One case that uses the reason of insanity defense is the Andrea Yates case. Andrea Yates was a woman from Houston, Texas who drowned her five children. This event occurred on June 20, 2001. She was said to suffer from severe depression after the birth of her fifth child. She was found guilty of first degree murder, but a court of appeals reversed the conviction and found her insane.

In March 2002, the jury rejected the insanity defense and found Yates guilty of first degree murder, which sentenced her to life in prison. She would eligible for parole in 40 years. On January 6, 2005, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the convictions and on July 26, 2006, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She was committed to North Texas State Hospital. Her case was important from a legal perspective because you don’t hear about a mother murdering her child/children very often. Who is crazy enough to do what Yates did?

Another case that used the reason of insanity defense was the case of Lori Burchett. Lori Burchett was convicted of murdering her 17 month old son Garrison. She killed Garrison by striking him in the head and stabbed him in the abdomen. Garrison died from a blunt force trauma to the head. Lori pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jurors found her guilty of first degree murder and assault on a child resulting in injury or death. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She was sentenced on April 30, 2011. She can appeal and will receive credit for more than two years she has spent in jail prior to her trial and sentencing.

There are some similarities to these two cases. One similarity is obviously that both of these women murdered their child/children. They both had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Both of these cases occurred on the west coast. Both of these crimes were simply horrific.

There are some differences in these two cases as well. The Yates case happened in Texas, while the Burchett case happened in California. Yates killed her five children, while Burchett only killed her youngest son. Yates drowned her children and Burchett hit her son Garrison in the head and stabbed him. Yates is in a mental hospital and Burchett is in prison.