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Jewish World Review March 20, 2002 / 7 Nisan, 5762

Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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Consumer Reports

And now, about Russell Yates . . .

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Hey, I'm ready to start a Russell Yates Vasectomy Fund. On Friday, a jury decided that Yates' wife Andrea, 37, will serve a life sentence in prison for drowning the couple's five children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke and baby Mary. She won't be eligible for parole until 2041.

Judging by her hubby's statements, Russell Yates will spend the rest of his life in denial.

But he may not spend the rest of his life alone. On Friday, reporters asked Yates if he planned to remain married. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted him as saying, "I'll always support Andrea. I don't know practically what's next. It's difficult being separated, being without the companionship. We won't be able to have any more children . . . I don't know."

Oh goodie. Russell Yates is thinking of starting a new family.

MSNBC devoted Monday to the question of whether prosecutors should charge Russell Yates for allowing these murders to happen. The answer is no. He's morally culpable, not legally guilty.

He's morally guilty because he pushed for having more kids, even after a doctor warned that having more children could trigger another psychotic episode for his wife. He figured that doctors could just give his wife a pill and her troubles would go away. And, if they didn't give her a pill, he could still leave his on-the-edge, recently institutionalized wife alone with five children.

Because doctors didn't cure her preventable (by birth control) condition, he's now considering suing.

Yates also sees himself as a victim of a gag order that the judge imposed during the trial. Actually, he should thank the judge. He apparently never noticed that every time he called his wife "the kindest, sweetest, gentlest person I've ever met," responsible people were outraged.

Andrea's mother, Jutta Karin Kennedy, told ABC that after the birth of the couple's fourth child, Russell told her that he had never changed a diaper. Now we know why Russell called Andrea "sweet." (Not to mention why she was having trouble coping.)

You'd think that with his five children dead, Yates would be agonizing over what he could have done differently. Wrong. He doesn't believe in second- guessing, he told Katie Couric. He's clear on what doctors could have done differently. He now complains that his suicidal wife should have told him she wanted to harm the kids. But the only thing he'd change about himself is he would have taken his wife to a different hospital.

No doubt "Today's" Couric won an exclusive interview because she once admitted she felt "overwhelming empathy" for Andrea Yates. Maybe they should date -- they have something in common. During the interview, Couric used her earnest, lean-forward voice, not the angry voice she saves for, say, tobacco- apologist Bob Dole.

The other folks at "Today" must love him, too. Co-host Matt Lauer questioned three jurors as to how they could take so little time -- three-and- a-half hours -- to render a verdict against a defendant who had admitted killing five kids.

When reporters asked Russell Yates what he thought of the life sentence, he answered, "Obviously, it could have been worse with the death penalty, but not much worse." Death wouldn't be much worse? The problem is that's easy for him to say.


Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here.


Up


03/18/02: Bush isn't worried about alienating loyalist voters
03/13/02: No exit strategy
03/11/02: Simon hits the big time
03/06/02: He got away
03/01/02: Mary, Luke, Paul, John and Noah
02/25/02: These are good days for veep
02/21/02: Dirty bill for a dirty mess
02/19/02: Score one for Greta
02/15/02: Dose of justice needed here
02/08/02: Sunshine all around
02/04/02: Does citizenship matter?
02/01/02: End the coverup
01/30/02: Try this for "troubling"
01/25/02: Camp X-ray or Club Med?
01/23/02: Let's stop the deluge of porn e-mail
01/21/02: No 'Little Boy Lost'
01/16/02: Son of Supercar
01/12/02: Beware the European view of the death penalty
01/09/02: Other people's children
01/07/02: It doesn't fly
01/03/02: Going from the Atlantic City Boardwalk to Berkeley
12/31/01: In America, punishment should fit the crime
12/28/01: What I'd like to see in 2002
12/24/01: Don't heckle ink monopolists
12/21/01: Mumia finds safety in numbers
12/19/01 The self-help PBS shopping network
12/17/01 Caught on tape
12/14/01 Know when to hold 'em
12/10/01 Old friends
12/06/01 I read the news today, oh boy
12/03/01 It's not cricket
11/28/01 Admissions and omissions
11/26/01 Guns and abayas
11/21/01 Depraved minds think alike
11/19/01 Guilty, a la carte
11/14/01 Interpreting the entrails of Election 2000
11/12/01 Life and liberty
11/09/01 Safety is as safety does
11/07/01 More hot air on global warming
11/05/01 Bumped Pakistani's molehill
11/01/01 Freedom snuffed out
10/29/01 Give war a chance
10/26/01 Airline bill needs liftoff
10/22/01 The Riordan Principle
10/19/01 Before America gets tired of the war on terrorism
10/17/01 Patriot games
10/15/01 I was a 'McCainiac,' and I have seen the light
10/12/01 University of Censorship's fall semester
10/11/01 Poor little rich boy, Osama
10/07/01 Don't feed Israel to the beast
10/05/01: bin Laden is not our Frankenstein monster
10/04/01: Where no man has gone before
09/26/01: Who's bloodthirsty?
09/26/01: What's to understand?
09/20/01: Barbara Lee's line in the sand
09/14/01: You gotta love this country
09/13/01: ENTER TERROR
09/11/01: You can't clone ethics
09/06/01: NOW's goal: equal rights for women without equal responsibility
08/30/01: What's love got to do with it?
08/24/01: A clean, well-lighted place for junkies
08/20/01: Bush should stand up for justice
08/08/01: Don't give Peace (Dept). a chance
08/03/01: Lose a kid, pass a law
08/01/01: Welcome to France, killers
07/30/01: Why it's easy being green (in Europe)
07/26/01: If disabled means expendable
07/23/01: Condit should not resign
07/18/01: Feinstein should learn her limit
07/16/01: A drought of common sense
07/13/01: The catalog has no clothes
07/05/01: It's Bush against the planet
07/03/01: The man who would be guv
06/29/01: Wheeled, wired and free
06/27/01: O, fearful new world
06/25/01: End HMO horrors
06/21/01: Either they're dishonest or clueless
06/18/01: Freedom is a puff of smoke
06/15/01: In praise of going heavy: Yes, you can take it all
06/13/01: McVeigh: 'Unbowed' maybe, but dead for sure
06/11/01: Gumby strikes back
06/08/01: Los Angeles' last white mayor?
06/07/01: Kids will be kids, media will be media
06/04/01: Draw a line in the sand
05/30/01: Just don't call him a moderate
05/29/01: Operation: Beat up on civil rights
05/24/01: Of puppies, kittens and huge credit-card debts
05/22/01: Bush needs an energy tinkerbell
05/18/01: Divided we stand, united they fall
05/16/01: Big Bench backs might over right
05/15/01: Close SUV loophole
05/11/01: Kill the test, welcome failure
05/09/01: DA mayor's disappointing legacy
05/07/01: If it ain't broken ...
05/03/01: They shoot civilians, don't they?
04/30/01: Executions are not for prime time
04/12/01: White House and the green myth
04/10/01: The perjurer as celeb
04/04/01: Bush bashers don't know squat
04/02/01: Drugging our oldsters
03/30/01: Robert Lee Massie exercises his death wish
03/28/01: Cheney's nuclear reactor
03/26/01: Where California and Mexico meet
03/16/01: Boy's sentence was no accident
03/14/01: Soft money, hard reform
03/12/01: Banks, big credit lines and consumer bankruptcy
03/09/01: Free speech dies in Berkeley
03/02/01: When rats have rights
02/28/01: Move a frog, go to jail?
02/26/01: They knew they'd get away with it
02/20/01: How Dems define tax fairness
02/16/01: The jackpot casino Carmel tribe?
02/14/01: You can fight school success
02/12/01: Hannibal -- with guts this time
02/08/01: A family of jailbirds
02/05/01: Reality's most demeaning TV moments
02/01/01: Justice for the non-Rich
01/26/01: Hail to the chiefs of D.C. opinion
01/24/01: A day of mud and monuments
01/22/01: Diversity, division, de-lovely D.C.
01/19/01: Parties agree: Give back the money
01/17/01: Get tough with the oil companies, or forget pumping more Alaskan crude
01/15/01: Mineta better pray that no attending confirmation senator has ever driven to San Jose during rush hour
01/12/01: Europeans should look in the mirror
01/10/01: Dems' reasons for dissin' Dubya's picks
01/08/01: Jerry, curb your guru
01/03/01: A foe of Hitler and friend of Keating
12/28/00: Nice people think nice thoughts
12/26/00: The Clinton years: Epilogue
12/21/00: 'Tis the season to free nonviolent drug offenders 12/18/00: A golden opportunity is squandered
12/15/00: You can take the 24 years, good son
12/13/00: Court of law vs. court of public opinion
12/08/00: A salvo in the war on the war on drugs
12/06/00: Don't cry, Butterfly: Big trees make great decks
12/04/00: Florida: Don't do as Romans did
11/30/00: Special City's hotel parking ticket
11/27/00: No means yes, yes means more than yes
11/22/00: The bench, the ballot and fairness
11/20/00: Mendocino, how green is your ballot?

© 2000, Creators Syndicate