Posted on 06/28/2006 12:38:46 PM PDT by presidio9
Seven-year-old Noah Yates struggled so hard while his mother was drowning him in the bathtub that his small fists remained stiff and over his head even several hours later, the medical examiner testified Wednesday.
Testifying on the third day of Andrea Yates' murder trial, Dr. Luis A. Sanchez said Noah, the oldest of Yates' five children drowned that day in 2001, had extensive rigor mortis because of intense movements indicating a struggle just before death.
Noah also had deep bruises consistent with someone holding him down, as did 6-month-old Mary and 5-year-old John, Sanchez testified.
Sanchez also said that based on their brain weights, which were significantly heavier than normal for children their ages, they had been held under water for minutes rather than seconds. The 9 inches of water was murky from the youngsters' bodily secretions, Sanchez said.
"It was a slow death; it was not quick," Sanchez, the Harris County medical examiner, told jurors.
Yates, who turns 42 on Sunday, again has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense says she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and did not know that drowning the youngsters was wrong.
Yates is being tried only in the deaths of Mary, John and Noah, a common practice in cases of multiple slayings. Ruling in favor of the defense, state District Judge Belinda Hill did not allow prosecutors to show autopsy photos of 2-year-old Luke or 3-year-old Paul or present evidence about their injuries.
Prosecutors have said they will rest their case after Sanchez testifies. He is the 12th witness for the state, which is retrying Yates after an appeals court overturned her 2002 conviction last year because of erroneous testimony.
Prosecutors said that during the trial's rebuttal phase, after the defense presents its case, they will call Dr. Park Dietz, the psychiatrist whose testimony inadvertently caused Yates' conviction to be overturned.
Dietz, also a consultant to the "Law & Order" television series, told jurors in Yates' first trial that one episode depicting a woman who drowned her kids in a bathtub and was acquitted by reason of insanity aired before the Yates children died.
No such episode existed, attorneys learned after Yates was convicted but before jurors sentenced her to life in prison.
If convicted, Yates will be sentenced to life in prison because prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. After the first jury rejected death, prosecutors could not seek execution again because they did not find any new evidence.
Take her out behind the barn and shoot her.
This woman needs to be punished. Odd that her husband has already found himself another lolly.
Just remember, folks -- "The Death Penalty is Dead Wrong."
Actually, in a perfect world, Ms. Yates would have died a slow death in prison at the hands of inmates who are mothers.
It been five years. Do you want him to kill himself?
bttt
I agree.
This is so damn sad. Are we all immune to these stories? I can't even finish the article. This woman is PURE EVIL. And here we are wasting our time on a TRIAL?? God help us.
BTW, is Katie Couric still soliciting donations to her defense fund?
Sigh.
Some days this world just overwhelms me. This is one of those days.
From a Chris Tucker quote in Rush Hour II
"Crazy-ass bitch"
No, of course not. But I didn't think he had even waited a year. Or was that Schiavo?
Horrid, just horrid. But besides the gynecologist, scrubs and the sterile environment what is the difference between this and abortion? Ask that of your brain dead twit friends who think it’s a woman’s right to choose.
The children all looked so happy, healthy and well adjusted in all of the film footage. What a tragic case.
My son is seven. I would have to nearly lay on him to keep him under water long enough to drown him.
Imagine the horror of your own mother holding your face under water. He died looking right into her eyes.
It makes me angry every time I think of it.
I'd hit it.
Oh my...Too bad she didn`t know about excercise and vitamins.
"YEAH!"
I remember that he didn't get a divorce until after the end of the first trial, whenever that was.
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