[PAA-Discuss] Vigil for Andrea Pia Yates

[dpatwood at igc.org]

To reiterate,  



The vigil for Andrea Pia Yates will be on Monday, June 26, at 7pm  in front of the Harris County Courthouse, 1201 Franklin Street.   

People will start gathering as early as 5:30 pm, so feel free to come right after work if that works best for you.  

Bring candles, signs and butterflies.  I will bring a box of candles for those who don't have any.  

The overall theme of the vigil is that Andrea needs treatment for her illness in a mental health hospital, not incarceration in a prison.  

We need to change the laws of Texas so that someone with serious mental illness will be treated fairly in the courts.  The legal definition of "insanity" as it currently exists is so restrictive that it is very difficult to have someone acquitted on that basis.   Also, juries are not instructed on what an acquittal of someone deemed to be "insane" really means.  That also needs to be changed.  Finally, of course, we need better mental health services in Texas so that tragedies like this can be avoided altogether.    

Best wishes,  Dave Atwood         
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