No, until the doctors at whatever institution she would be committed to are satisfied that she is properly treated and no longer at risk of psychotic episodes.
Most doctors will not risk their license or reputation by releasing a person found not guilty by reason of insanity. For the most part, it's considered a life sentence.
On July 30th, 2008, Vincent Li stabbed and killed Tim McClean on a Greyhound bus from Edmonton to Winnipeg in Canada. He then proceeded to decapitate Tim, display his head to people outside the bus, and cut off other portions of his body and eat them before the police showed up and arrested him.
In the trial that followed, it was determined that Vincent Li was not criminally responsible due to having undiagnosed schizophrenia (apparently people just assumed he was a very devout Christian convert when he told people that Jesus spoke to him). He was remanded to a mental institution in 2009.
By 2012 (3 years later), he was allowed to take supervised trips into the nearby town. By 2014 (5 years later) he was allowed to take unsupervised trips into the nearby town. By 2015 (6 years later) he was allowed to take unsupervised day trips to Winnipeg so long as he kept a cell phone on him at all times. By 2016 (7 years later) he was allowed to live independently outside of the prison. In 2017, 8 years after being committed, he was given a full non-conditional discharge, with no legal obligations or responsibilities above and beyond those of any other citizen.
While I am usually pretty quick to be critical of the Canadian justice system this seems reasonable. He was determined to have committed the crime as the result of a psychotic episode, doctors determined the issue was resolved, slowly reintegrated him into society and he has not committed any crimes since.
This seems better than the alternative of locking up a now healthy person for decades at the expense of the tax payer.
While I would not be opposed to ongoing check ins with psychiatrists being required I generally trust doctors to know if a person needs continued care better than I trust the general public. Like it would be in their interest to say he needs care even if he doesn't so it's not like they are doing this for some corrupt reasoning.
Sure, but a lot of people were furious when he was released, and also, it shows that doctors absolutely will release patients found not criminally responsible due to mental health reasons.
People's anger isn't super relevant to me on the matter, and they should be released if they are found to be not responsible because of mental health reasons and then after extensive care those issues are found to be resolved. It is also a very different situation in Canada and the US.
if you're going to be citing "actual legal terms" for people, you should at least look into what else might be an actual legal term (like "not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI)") and what she actually legally pled ("not guilty")
He committed his crime as the result of a psychotic break, which has now been resolved. If his doctors were confident enough to release him I am not sure why I should not trust them. And I say this as someone incredibly critical of the general catch and release habits of the Canadian justice system.
That’s largely due to Andrea waiving her yearly rights to be medically reviewed to determine release eligibility. If she really wanted out of the hospital and was determined legally rehabilitated, they would release her.
Yes, key phrase being "and was determined legally rehabilitated" which in Texas is determined by the State District Court presiding judge.
She not only has to be medically cleared, she also has to get a Texas judge to sign off, which I wouldn't count on. But, since that's how it works practically everywhere, that's not a condition unique to Andrea Yates that doesn't apply to Lindsay Clancy.
Welp they didn't do that great of a job up until the point she strangled her 3 children with an exercise band. So who knows how long she will be in there.
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus 3h ago
No, until the doctors at whatever institution she would be committed to are satisfied that she is properly treated and no longer at risk of psychotic episodes.