Final answer:
Andrea Yates tried to kill her children and was found not guilty due to insanity. The Yates case, similar to the 1914 case of Jean Gianini, highlights the interplay between mental health and legal definitions of guilt in the justice system.
Step-by-step explanation:
On several occasions, Andrea Yates tried to kill her own children, and still the jury at her first trial found her not guilty by reason of insanity. The case of Yates brought nationwide attention to issues of mental health and the law's approach to understanding crimes committed under its influence. The highly publicized trial questioned the efficacy of the legal system in dealing with defendants suffering from severe psychological disorders. Similarly, Jean Gianini's case, where he murdered his former teacher Lydia Beecher, also involved a defense of legal insanity, with expert testimony arguing Gianini had the intelligence of a ten-year-old and could not comprehend the enormity of his crime. The jury's acceptance of this argument, resulting in a not guilty verdict, set a precedent for future cases involving mental health and criminal responsibility. Examples such as the Casey Anthony trial and Yarmila Falater's murder case further illustrate the complexities and controversies surrounding legal judgments in instances of severe crimes.