This is a really good, even-handed look at Andrea Yates and the horrible acts she committed when she drowned all five of her children.

Hers is an unusual case, to say the least. For one thing, the facts of the crime are well known, and Yates herself provided authorities with a complete confession in the hours following the murders. We know how and in what order she killed the kids, and we know the reasons she gave for doing what she did -- namely, that she thought the only way to save the children from ultimately going to Hell was to send them to God while they were still in their most innocent years.

No one argues that the woman did not have a mental illness -- what this case really comes down to is the question of whether or not she was insane. That is pretty much the focus of this episode of Mugshots.

Public opinion of Yates is, to say the least, quite polarized. On one side are those who think Yates knew exactly what she was doing -- and that it was most certainly wrong -- and thus deserves no pity whatsoever. At the same time, there are those who do feel sorry for Yates and basically consider her not guilty by reason of insanity.

Of course, that's not how a Texas jury saw it, and many think Yates got off far too lightly with a life sentence rather than the death penalty. This documentary explores all of those viewpoints. The story of the murders and Yates' state of mind is best encapsulated by interviews with her defense lawyers, psychologists who interviewed her, and prosecutors. Alongside the known facts of her mental health history, we get insights from Yates' brother and her best friend from childhood.

The facts only make this case more tragic, making the murders of the children seem much less spontaneous and unpredictable. While no one may have believed her capable of killing her own children, her mental illness was well-known, accompanied by suicidal tendencies, and treated with some degree of success in her past. One cannot help but place some degree of blame for what happened on her husband Rusty, as their mutual decision to have yet another child and abandon her medication -- knowing her history of postpartum depression and psychosis -- was really the catalyst for the ultimate tragedy.

Having watched this documentary, I do feel more sympathy for Andrea Yates -- but my opinion that she did understand the consequences of her actions and deserved the ultimate punishment for her crimes rather than a life sentence remains unchanged. The real tragedy here is that these murders were the result of horrible personal choices; they could and should have never happened.