Yates' defense calls friends to stand
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/031402dntexchildrenslain.a76b1.html
Yates' defense calls friends to stand
03/14/2002
HOUSTON - Prosecutors said today they would present no additional evidence to the jury that convicted Andrea Yates of capital murder for drowning her children in their bathtub. Defense lawyers and Yates' relatives urged the Houston mother be spared from a death sentence.
"All of the evidence was admitted during the case in chief," assistant district attorney Joe Owmby told jurors and State District Judge Belinda Hill as the punishment phase of Yates' trial got under way.
| Related Yates home: A yard stands empty, a husband stays silent 'Law & Order' denies that idea for drownings came from show |
Hill then denied a request from Yates' attorneys that the judge sentence Yates to a life prison term since prosecutors were calling no new witnesses.
Jurors who convicted Yates of two counts of capital murder on Tuesday have two options: life in prison or death by injection.
Defense attorneys began calling friends, family members and a psychiatrist who evaluated Yates to discuss her background, character and whether she could be a future danger to society.
"I'm here pleading for her life," Yates' mother, Jutta Karin Kennedy, told jurors.
"I've lost seven people in one year," Kennedy said, referring to her five dead grandchildren and her husband, who died one year to the day jurors convicted Yates.
"In effect, her life is over one way or another," defense attorney George Parnham said, telling jurors he accepted their verdict but didn't agree with it. Yates had claimed she was innocent by reason of insanity.
"Her children are gone and she sits here through her lawyers asking that she be spared," Parnham said.
Under Texas law, the decision comes down to how jurors answer two questions: Does she pose a future danger to society? And are there mitigating circumstances to sentence her to life as opposed to death?
Jurors must be unanimous on both questions that she is a danger and that there are no mitigating circumstances in order for a death sentence to be imposed.
The jury could begin considering the questions Friday, Parnham told them.
James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said even though the jury of eight women and four men rejected Yates' insanity defense, it doesn't mean the panel won't consider her mental history during the trial's punishment phase.
"Their refusal to accept it the first time is not any indication they won't accept it in sparing her life," Cohen said.
Legal experts say prosecutors face an uphill battle in trying to prove Yates is a continuing threat to society.
"Before it was a much tougher case for the defense," Southern Methodist University School of Law professor Dan Shuman said Wednesday. "I think now it is a much tougher case for the prosecution.
"The jurors now are operating under no illusions that she is going to be set free."
As for mitigation, South Texas College of Law professor Neil McCabe said the state already has acknowledged a major mitigating circumstance by saying Yates did suffer from a severe mental disease.
"It wasn't enough to carry their burden on the insanity defense, but since the government admits she is severely mentally ill they could run that around the courtroom some more," he said.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 31 people were sent to death row last year, down slightly from 34 in 2000. In 1999, 48 convicted killers were condemned.
Texas by far, with 262 executions since 1982, is the nation's most active death penalty state. During the past 20 years, two women have been put to death.
Yates was convicted on two capital murder charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Noah, 5-year-old John and 6-month-old Mary. Charges have not been filed in the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.
If Yates receives life, she would have to serve at least 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. If sentenced to die, she would become the ninth woman on Texas' death row.
"I would be shocked if it came back capital punishment," Shuman said. "However reluctant jurors are to punish or to give absolution to people who commit heinous acts, they have heard all the information about how this woman struggled with mental health problems."
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/031402dntexchildrenslain.a76b1.html