53: Drug Dealer Jesse James Hollywood & Andrea Yates

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Jesse James Hollywood was a suburban Los Angeles pot dealer. At just 20 years old, he owned his own home, pulled in a grand a week, and had a couple of his old little league friends to sell his drugs and do his bidding. Jesse thought he was hot shit. So when one of his henchmen refused to fall in line, Jesse decided to send him a message. He kidnapped the man’s 15-year-old brother, Nicholas Markowitz, and later learned from a family lawyer that the justice system doesn’t go easy on kidnappers. What Jesse did next landed him on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.

Then Kristin really bums us out with the story of Andrea Yates, a deeply troubled Texas mother who drowned her five children in her bathtub. Andrea’s story shocked and disturbed the nation, but it also raised important questions about Andrea’s mental state. By the time she murdered her children, she’d been hospitalized, she’d attempted suicide, she’d withheld food from her children, and she’d been prescribed antipsychotic drugs. Both the prosecution and the defense agreed that Andrea was mentally ill, but would the jury find her not guilty by reason of insanity?

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Profile of Andrea Yates,” Thoughtco.com
“Andrea Yates,” episode of Mugshots
“Where is Andrea Yates’ Husband Now?” People.com
“Andrea Yates,” Wikipedia
Newspapers.com
“Defense derides psychiatrist as a witness for hire,” Los Angeles Times
“Andrea Yates case turns on trail error,” Los Angeles Times

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“The Last Ride of Jesse James Hollywood” by Jesse Katz, Los Angeles Magazine
“The Real Story Behind Alpha Dog” episode Dateline
“Defendant Denies Killing Teen” by Sue Fox, Los Angeles Times
“Prosecutor Okayed for Jesse James Hollywood Trial” by Chris Meagher, Santa Barbara Independent
“Witness Rundown in Hollywood Trial” by Amy Silverstein and Chris Meagher, Santa Barbara Independent
“Jesse James Hollywood Tells His Story” by Chris Meagher, Santa Barbara Independent
“Hollywood Jury Deliberating” by Chris Meagher, Santa Barbara Independent
“Verdict In: Hollywood Guilty of Murder and Kidnapping” by Chris Meagher, Santa Barbara Independent
“The Murder of Nicholas Markowitz” wikipedia.org
“Jesse James Hollywood” wikipedia.org
“Joshua Lynn” wikipedia.org