Donna Yost wants out of prison.

[Unamused Cat]

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg107/snarkyphotos/yost.jpg

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — Attorneys for a Pinconning woman imprisoned in her 7-year-old daughter's fatal poisoning are seeking her freedom while Bay County prosecutors consider appealing a court decision overturning her conviction.

Last month, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed 48-year-old Donna Yost's 2006 first-degree murder conviction in the 1999 death of her daughter Monique. Authorities say Yost gave Monique an antidepressant overdose to cover up sexual abuse allegations.

WSGW-AM in Saginaw and The Bay City Times say Circuit Judge William Caprathe will hear the request next Monday.

The appeals court says Caprathe should have let Yost present evidence about her limited intellectual functioning and call a toxicologist as a witness.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-52/1208201352199390.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

video: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6048296

[Lynntoast]

Holy Shit! What the fuck they been feeding her in there? They would stand a better chance of getting her out because of the fact that she is too obese to fit through the cell doors anymore. Fuck! :eek:

[Unamused Cat]

Holy Shit! What the fuck they been feeding her in there? They would stand a better chance of getting her out because of the fact that she is too obese to fit through the cell doors anymore. Fuck! :eek:

She definitely has been corn fed. :p

[Harley_Tech]

She definitely has been corn fed. :p


Bet she can plug up the ol' American Standard...

R

[Angel]

Are you sure she didn't EAT the kid, instead of poisoning her? Looks like she could have swallowed three or four good sized kids. :eek:

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Donna A. Yost took a deep breath Wednesday morning and then she took a walk - up the street, without a lawyer, all alone.

''It took a minute for me to do it, and it wasn't easy, because I was by myself,'' said Yost, living in a Bay City apartment after gaining her freedom last month, 10 years after the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Monique.

''For the first time after I'd been out of jail,'' Yost said, ''it was just me out there.''

A Bay County jury once convicted Donna Yost of Monique's murder, but higher courts overturned the conviction. Following a plea agreement, a judge freed Yost on March 20 after she pleaded no contest to first-degree child abuse in her daughter's death.

Yost spent her first night in her North Monroe Street apartment Tuesday, then took her morning walk to the office of her lawyer, Bay City attorney Edward M. Czuprynski.

In the town that has jeered her, cheered her and - for years - debated her guilt, Yost strolled the sidewalks without notice.

[...]

Czuprynski maintains Monique Yost died due to a defective heart, and not because of an intentionally administered drug overdose - as prosecutors contended following the girl's Oct. 10, 1999 death.

Donna Yost said she agrees with his theory.

''Bad hearts run in my family,'' Yost said. ''My dad was 18 when he had heart surgery. My mom had heart trouble, and my oldest nephew was born with a hole in his heart.''

Yost said she hopes to win over critics who may still think she killed her child.

''I just hope they can see through the bad things said about me, and open up their hearts and get to know me a little bit before they make a judgment,'' Yost said.

''I don't want to have that encounter with somebody who thinks I did something. I don't know what I'll do. I think I'll just say, 'Just go your own way, please.'''

In the meantime, Donna Yost said she'll enjoy going to dine at Kentucky Fried Chicken - her favorite restaurant - or, as she did on Wednesday afternoon, smoking a cigarette on her front porch.

''This is awesome,'' said Yost, with a brisk March wind in her hair and the sun in her face.

''You got your freedom,'' she said, laughing at the thought.

''You got your life back.''
Full article...http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-13/123868534339270.xml&coll=4

[Wicked Doll]

In the meantime, Donna Yost said she'll enjoy going to dine at Kentucky Fried Chicken - her favorite restaurant - or, as she did on Wednesday afternoon, smoking a cigarette on her front porch.

Hopefully a bad heart takes her out of this world ASAP.

[Kalehue]

I'm not getting this. She pled guilty to child abuse and *intentionally* overdosed her child, but it was the child's bad heart that killed her?

''Bad hearts run in my family,'' Yost said.

In the meantime, Donna Yost said she'll enjoy going to dine at Kentucky Fried Chicken - her favorite restaurant - or, as she did on Wednesday afternoon, smoking a cigarette on her front porch.

I'm guessing this porker doesn't have long anyway -- dining on KFC, smoking, and with the "family history" and all. Could she be any grosser?

Yost, with a brisk March wind in her hair and the sun in her face.

That conjures up quite a picture. Ugh!

[totallytoddler]

I am guessing if the child had a bad heart to begin with.....it would NOT have been able to handle the POISON!!!! I say fuck that...she poisoned her.

Hope she KFC's herself to death!!!!! Fat Bitch!

[Athena]

I'm not getting this. She pled guilty to child abuse and *intentionally* overdosed her child, but it was the child's bad heart that killed her?


Innocent people take plea deals (http://www.theagitator.com/2009/03/21/american-violet/) to avoid unsympathetic juries and harsh prison sentences all the time. The fact is, just because you are innocent, it does NOT mean you've got nothing to worry about. I mean, why wouldn't you if a jury had already convicted you once?

There are several cases of parents being convicted of deaths caused naturally, diseases, conditions, etc. I can't say that's what happened here, but it's entirely possible. The fact that she took a plea deal only means she saw it as the lesser of two evils.

[Kalehue]

Innocent people take plea deals to avoid unsympathetic juries and harsh prison sentences all the time. The fact is, just because you are innocent, it does NOT mean you've got nothing to worry about. I mean, why wouldn't you if a jury had already convicted you once?

There are several cases of parents being convicted of deaths caused naturally, diseases, conditions, etc. I can't say that's what happened here, but it's entirely possible. The fact that she took a plea deal only means she saw it as the lesser of two evils.


I won't argue with that. The justice system isn't always *just.* And it sounds like there was plenty of criticism about the handling of her case.

Thirty-seven pages go into great detail about what was and wasn't done wrong at her trial.

The appeals court believes the trial judge should have allowed evidence related to Yost's, quote, "limited intellectual functioning."

The court believes the judge should have done a better job limiting testimony about her involvement with Child Protective Services.

The court also notes that the trial judge should have allowed the defense to call a toxicologist as a witness.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6048296


But if the overdose was intentionally administered, in my mind she is guilty of child abuse at the least. I'm guessing there must be some question about whether or not it was the cause of the child's death -- and possibly some conflicting expert testimony?? -- otherwise I can't imagine they'd be willing to offer up the plea deal.

[penelopejo]

I won't argue with that. The justice system isn't always *just.* And it sounds like there was plenty of criticism about the handling of her case.



http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6048296


But if the overdose was intentionally administered, in my mind she is guilty of child abuse at the least. I'm guessing there must be some question about whether or not it was the cause of the child's death -- and possibly some conflicting expert testimony?? -- otherwise I can't imagine they'd be willing to offer up the plea deal.

But if she has limited intellectual functioning(as quoted from your post) she could've interpreted 1 tsp, to mean 1 tbs.

[Athena]

But if the overdose was intentionally administered, in my mind she is guilty of child abuse at the least. I'm guessing there must be some question about whether or not it was the cause of the child's death -- and possibly some conflicting expert testimony?? -- otherwise I can't imagine they'd be willing to offer up the plea deal.

I'd like to hear what the toxicology reports said to begin with. Certainly, if there were large amounts of antidepressants in the child's system, mom deserves plenty of time in jail. But, could those antidepressants result in an OD? Even if they didn't, but instead simply triggered her weak heart to fail, you'd think that would still be felony murder.

She pled no contest, which means that she's not accepting guilt, but she believes the deal they're offering is better than what she would get out of another trial. The article is unclear, but it seems like she served 9 years before her conviction was overturned, at which point she pled no contest to a plea deal that gave her... time served?

I'm confused.

[Kalehue]

I'd like to hear what the toxicology reports said to begin with. Certainly, if there were large amounts of antidepressants in the child's system, mom deserves plenty of time in jail. But, could those antidepressants result in an OD? Even if they didn't, but instead simply triggered her weak heart to fail, you'd think that would still be felony murder.

She pled no contest, which means that she's not accepting guilt, but she believes the deal they're offering is better than what she would get out of another trial. The article is unclear, but it seems like she served 9 years before her conviction was overturned, at which point she pled no contest to a plea deal that gave her... time served?

I'm confused.

It's definitely confusing and if there's 37 pages of things that were mishandled in the case, I'm know we're missing out on *a lot* of pertinent information after just reading two newspaper articles.

I'm doing a little research now (since you've piqued my interest) and I can clarify at least one thing...apparently she didn't stand trial until 6 years after the child's death (in 2006), so she's served approximately 3 years. There also appears to be conflicting expert testimony.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/taped/yost/background_ctv.html?page=1

But the more I read about this, the more I think this lady is guilty. Seems there was a lot of antidepressant in the child's system -- one toxicologist estimated between 10 and 40X the child's normal dosage. Imipramine (the medication she was taking) can cause changes in the heart rate and rhythm. Usually they'll check an EKG in patients as they increase the dosage. If the kid had a heart defect (as it appears she did), even a smaller overdose might have been deadly.

Here's a pic of Monique:

http://www.courttv.com/graphics2/photos/taped-trials/yost/inside/offlede/yost-monique-insidesmall-060206.jpg

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Imipramine in an "old school" tricyclic antidepressant. It has side effects that cause major problems. I was prescribed it once back in the early 80s. After 3 days on the shit, I was higher than a kite... high like "smoked pot for 12 hours straight" high.

I took too many because I really didn't know I had taken any but knew I should take it... so I did, and I did, and I did. (this event was actually the beginning of my "Drs are NOT God" philosophy)

As a person who as actually experienced an Imipramine overdose, I can tell you that it has major heart complications. I ended up in the hospital hooked up to monitors that scared the crap out of me. There are also many other things associated with this drug that are problematic to the body.

It is dangerous stuff when not properly monitored or with someone (like me) who gets every almost every adverse effect listed.

I'm not saying the child overdosed herself... I'm saying I did and could totally see it happening to someone else.

[Special2bme]

Bay City -- Donna Yost had been a free woman for more than two weeks.

But until Wednesday, the woman who had been serving a life sentence for the death of her 7-year-old daughter had not walked alone in public.

Yost spent her first night Tuesday in a new apartment in Bay City. The following morning she walked up the street.

Advertisement

"It took a minute for me to do it, and it wasn't easy, because I was by myself," Yost told the Bay City Times. "For the first time after I'd been out of jail, it was just me out there."

A jury convicted Yost in 2006 of giving her 7-year-old daughter, Monique, a fatal dose of antidepressant on Oct. 10, 1999, to block an investigation into possible sexual abuse of the girl by a teenage friend and others.

"The defendant created a concoction with lie after lie after lie," county assistant prosecutor Nancy Borushko told the jury at the close of the trial. "You have an opportunity to spit it out. Monique did not. Speak for her, speak for Monique. Tell the defendant, 'No.' "

She was sentenced to life in prison, but the state appeals court later ordered a new trial, saying too much evidence for the defense was excluded at trial. Before the new trial started, Yost, 49, pleaded no contest March 20 to first-degree child abuse.

Yost was sentenced to three years' probation and released from the Bay County jail.

She lives rent-free in the apartment owned by her attorney and hopes to bake and sell cakes from home. People have donated food and furniture, Yost told the newspaper.

"This is awesome," she said. "You got your freedom. You got your life back."

Her lawyer, Edward Czuprynski, said he is working to get Yost government disability, a driver's license and a car. He worked her case for nine years at no charge, she said.

Monique Yost died due to a defective heart and not because of an intentionally administered drug overdose, Czuprynski has said.

Bad hearts do run in her family, according to Yost.

"My dad was 18 when he had heart surgery," she said. "My mom had heart trouble, and my oldest nephew was born with a hole in his heart."
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO03/904020497/1014/rss03

[Cassandra]

She is a disgrace to fat people like me.

[Wicked Doll]

A week ago, Donna A. Yost and her attorney hosted an open house to celebrate her freedom.

After nine years of legal battles and a bout in prison, Yost, who was awaiting a second trial for murder, agreed to plead no contest to first-degree child abuse. She was set free the same day.

While Donna Yost, 49, has been the center of the court case, the heart of the matter was always the 7-year-old girl who died on Oct. 10, 1999.

Monique Yost would have been 17 this year.
The Bay City Times Photo fileA heart-shaped stone bearing the epitaph 'she loved everyone' marks Monique Yost's grave at the Pinconning Township Cemetery.

Sherry Farmer still ponders the old hurt of losing a little girl who called her "Mom."

"It seems like the news is all about Donna, and everyone forgot what really happened, in my opinion," said Farmer, 41, of Bay City. Farmer's daughter Alisha and Monique Yost were friends. The families lived in the same neighborhood near 11th Street and North Madison Avenue.

"There's a song that comes on the radio quite often - 'Concrete Angel' - and whenever that song plays, it reminds me of Monique."

The music video for the song, by country-music singer Martina McBride, depicts an abused girl who dies as "a broken heart that the world forgot."

"It's kind of a sad song and it reminds me of some of the things Monique went through," Farmer said.

A plea of no contest is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for the purpose of sentencing a defendant. Donna Yost denies harming her daughter.

Prosecutors contended Monique Yost died because Donna Yost gave her a fatal dose of antidepressant to head off an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of the child by a teenage friend and others.

Yost's lawyer, Bay City attorney Edward M. Czuprynski, maintains Monique died due to a defective heart and not an overdose.

Donna Yost agrees with her lawyer's theory. She said her father and mother suffered from heart problems, and that her oldest nephew was born with a hole in his heart.

Monique's older sister, Jessica S. Davis of Pinconning - now 24 - doesn't think her mother harmed Monique, but added "I do have confusion about it - there is a lot of confusion about what happened."

She said she continues seeing a counselor following the death of her little sister.

"I think about my sister all the time. It's still like this just happened," Davis said.

Davis, who was 15 at the time of Monique's death, recalled a little sister who liked to devour spaghetti or walk with Jessica to buy goodies at a nearby Jamie's Dairies store.

"Monique and I would play 'dress up' all the time," Jessica Davis said. "I was the queen and she was the princess."

But despite being described as a happy-go-lucky, outgoing girl at Washington Elementary School in Bay City, Monique frequently roamed her neighborhood seeking a friend.

"She was not afraid to knock on a door and she was not afraid to tell you anything," Farmer said. "She'd come to our house and say 'Is Alisha home? I want someone to play with.'"

Farmer said Monique occasionally spent the night at her home with daughter, Alisha, now 17 and a student at Bay City Central High School.

"I'd give (Monique) clothing or shoes at times, because my daughter was bigger than her," Farmer said.

Reports by Bay City Public Schools educators list several instances of erratic behavior by Monique, such as one time in 1997 when she took off her dress in class.

Farmer said she was concerned, at times, about Monique.

"There would be times Donna (Yost) would come knocking on my door at 3 or 4 or 5 in the morning, looking for Monique," Farmer said.

With Donna Yost's legal battle now over, the truth behind how Monique Yost died may remain a mystery.

Whatever happened, Sherry Farmer said she will remember the little girl's fighting spirit.

"Back then, I was going through a bad time myself, having medical issues," Sherry Farmer said. "Monique would come over and say 'Don't be sad ... It's going to be all right.'"

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/04/donna_yosts_legal_battles_are.html

[RaVen Blackehart]

http://i39.tinypic.com/nvxun9.jpg

[Unamused Cat]

http://i39.tinypic.com/nvxun9.jpg

LOL... Now that's a Hambeast.