(Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle)
Ten years after Andrea Yates was first convicted of murdering her five children, the Clear Lake mother might soon be allowed outside the confines of a state psychiatric hospital to go to church, her attorney told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday.
Defense attorney George Parnham said he expects Yates’ doctors at Kerrville State Hospital to file a letter in the next week, asking the state district court in Houston to let Yates, now 47, leave for two hours weekly to attend services.
“We’re now going to be asking for a pass for two hours,” said Parnham, who hopes that eventually she’ll be allowed to leave the state’s care for good. State hospital physicians consider a patient’s possible risk to the community before recommending a “therapeutic” pass, the first step toward a life beyond the hospital.
Yates’ attorney believes she has been ready for years to rejoin society, including getting a job and living on her own. “I think she’s ready for outpatient care,” he said.
Parnham said Yates has written an unidentified area church to ask whether she could join their congregation. The defense attorney declined to provide additional details.
(Read more at the Houston Chronicle)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Report: More Transparency Needed on State School Spending(Austin American Statesman)
- STAAR a Break, or Waste, for Non-Testing Students (Houston Chronicle)
- Rep. Al Green Wins House Passage of Legislation to Help Homeless Vets (Houston Chronicle)
- WIC’s Fresh Produce Program Cut 30 Percent (New York Times)
- FEMA Chief Says Agency Bracing for ‘Maximum’ Disaster (Houston Chronicle)
- Contingency Plans Are Few if Court Strikes Down Insurance Requirement (New York Times)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
- A Dream Act Without the Dream (Editorial, New York Times)
“Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has recently been floating his stripped-down version of the Dream Act, a bill to legalize young unauthorized immigrants — Americans in all but name — who serve in the military or go to college.” - 4,000 Days of War in Afghanistan? (Rachel Maddow, Washington Post)
“[As] we close in on the 4,000-day mark ahead of our own fall elections, the inertia of the war in Afghanistan seems to be giving way to concerns about the costs of sustaining it and the need to find the best way to end it. Why now?”