Posted on 03/12/2002 2:02:06 PM PST by GRRRRR
Guilty: Houston Mother Found Guilty of Drowning Her Children
March 12 — Andrea Yates, the Houston mother on trial for drowning her five children last year, was convicted on two counts of capital murder today.
The verdict came just under four hours after deliberations began, surprising courtroom observers. Yates could face the death penalty when she is sentenced. There was no doubt that Yates, 37, killed her five children last June. Both prosecutors and Andrea Yates' defense attorneys agreed that she was mentally ill. But Yates' attorneys argued that she was not guilty by reason of insanity of the two counts of capital murder she faced.
The key issue at trial — and the pivotal issue for the 12-panel jury — was whether Yates could distinguish between right and wrong at the time of the slayings.
Yates' defense argued that she suffered from severe postpartum depression that made her incapable of rational thought when she killed her children.
Prosecutors argued that Yates confessed to police and psychiatrists that she planned in advance to kill the children, which suggested premeditation. The methodical way in which she drowned her children one-by-one, prosecutors argued, suggested that Yates was capable of distinguishing right from wrong.
"That's the key," prosecutor Kaylynn Williford said in closing arguments. "Andrea Yates knew right from wrong, and she made a choice on June 20 to kill her children deliberately and with deception."
Defense experts disagreed, arguing that Yates knew killing children was legally wrong, but was so delusional that she thought she was saving them from Satan.
"We can't permit objective logic to be imposed on the actions of Andrea Yates," defense attorney George Parnham said in his closing arguments. "She was so psychotic on June 20 that she absolutely believed what she was doing was the right thing to do."
Methodical Killing
According to police, shortly after her husband, Russell Yates, left for work at the Space Shuttle Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center on June 20, Andrea Yates methodically drowned her five children in the bathtub of their home. Police found the bodies of John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and 6-month-old Mary in the master bedroom, covered with a sheet. The body of 7-year-old Noah was still in the tub, police said.
Police said Yates told them that she held Luke under water in the bathtub, then Paul, John, and Mary. Noah walked in while she was holding Mary under the water and tried to run away, but Yates said she caught him, and drowned him too.
When she finished, she called 911 and told police to come to her home, where they found her and the children's bodies.
Troubled Mother Under Pressure
Friends and relatives of Andrea Yates portrayed her as a mother who seemed overwhelmed by the responsibilities of raising five children and who feared that she was a bad mother. The Yates' lifestyle came under scrutiny as it was revealed that Russell Yates wanted to have a traditional family where he was the breadwinner and Andrea stayed home and raised and home-schooled the children. A minister, Russell said, encouraged him to teach the children at home to protect them from the moral corruption.
Russell Yates, who has stayed supportive of his wife since the killings, recalled how she tried to commit suicide multiple times two years before the drownings. Still, Russell Yates said, he didn't see her as a danger to herself or others, even after the birth of their fourth child. A psychiatrist also testified that she discouraged the Yateses in 1999 from having a fifth child because there was a 50 percent chance she would suffer from future psychosis. Still, they proceeded to have another child because Russell said the psychiatrist was not "adamant" against wishes.
Preoccupation With Satan
Defense expert Phillip Resnick was among the witnesses who said Yates had a preoccupation with Satan. Yates knew drowning her children was illegal, he said, but in her psychotic and delusional state, she thought it was the only way to save her children from eternal damnation. Resnick said Yates thought Satan lived within her and the state would execute her for her children's killings, thus eliminating evil from the world.
But prosecutors said Yates must be held accountable for her children's deaths. Yates didn't start claiming Satan lived within her or referring to a prophecy until the day after her arrest when she realized she had killed her five children and found herself naked in a jail cell, Williford argued.
She said Yates, a former nurse, had thought about harming her children for years and ignored a doctor's orders in 1999 to refrain from having any more by getting pregnant with her youngest child, Mary.
"Andrea Yates knew right from wrong and she made a choice on June 20 to kill her children," Williford said. "She made that choice to have Mary. She made that choice to fill the tub."
Yates could have been indicted in all the children's deaths, but prosecutors have said it is not necessary to seek indictments for all of them. One of the capital murder charges covers the deaths of Noah and John, qualifying for capital punishment because two victims were killed during the commission of the same crime. The second charge lists the death of 6-month-old Mary as a child under the age of 6, which also is a capital offense.
What did she say? I don't watch her!
Don't get me wrong, she needs to go away forever. But he is pure pond scum, and is EVERY BIT as culpable in these murders as she is. He should be charged as an accessory.
I disagree. Otherwise, what's to keep her from squeezing out a few more kiddos then retroactively aborting them? Since the hubby seems to consider her his brood mare, I can easily see a death sentence from this jury in the punishment phase.
None that I can see. Perhaps LS knows of some avenues for prosecution that have been explored.
He KNEW she was a whacko, and still willingly left his "beloved" kids in her care all the time. You can't have it both ways---if she is a danger, he should have pulled them. If she wasn't a danger, he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong and had her on every drug except Thorazine.
I believe that in Texas there are laws about not protecting children by omission. If he knew his kids were in danger and did nothing, he could be facing some serious jail time.
Well, thats the only possible scenario I think that could reasonably lead to a conclusion that she's a threat. However, I dont know if the law allows the jury to take into account facts not in existance at the time of their deliberation when considering 'future danger'. I know, its splitting hairs but these are the type of issues that get appealed.
I have no probs. with a death penalty for people who were clearly sane, and clearly a future threat. This woman is neither, especially if they lock up 'ol Russ too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.