posted on September 22, 2001 06:36:55 PM
This may have been missed amid all the terrorist-related headlines, but it was in today's news ...
Mom in Texas child drownings found fit for trial
By C. Bryson Hull
HOUSTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A Texas mother accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub is mentally fit to stand trial on murder charges, a Houston jury decided on Saturday, ruling she was capable of helping defense lawyers fight the death penalty case against her.
The 11-woman, one-man jury reached its decision about the mental competency of Andrea Yates after hearing three days of testimony from mental health experts and deliberating for eight hours on Friday and Saturday.
The panel was asked to decide if Yates, 37, understood the proceedings against her and was able to assist her lawyers.
The jury's decision means Yates must now face a capital murder trial. She has been charged in only two of the five drownings. If convicted, she could face the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Yates stood silently and did not react as State District Judge Belinda Hill read the jury's verdict. Her husband, Russell Yates, a NASA computer engineer, dropped his head into his hands, shaking it slowly as his face flushed.
Jurors embraced the prosecution's argument that Yates' mental health had improved significantly since she was jailed on June 20. Testimony during the hearing showed she arrived at the jail in near catatonia, but had improved steadily since.
The panel rejected the defense's argument that Yates was still too mentally fragile to bear the strain of a trial.
"At least that issue is decided. Now it's time to get prepared to defend her in the trial," defense attorney George Parnham said.
Asked about the verdict, he said, "It would be impossible to relate to you our feelings."
Prosecutors Kaylynn Williford and Joe Owmby had no comment.
INSANITY DEFENSE IS NEXT PHASE
Yates already has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges against her. She allegedly drowned her five children, age 6 months to 7 years, in a bathtub at their Houston home on June 20. She then called police and her husband, who supports her, to confess what she had done, police say.
Yates' attorneys say she suffered a psychotic form of severe postpartum depression that began after the birth of her fourth child and worsened after her fifth.
Parnham and co-counsel Wendell Odom will make that contention the centerpiece of the second phase of their mental health defense: that Yates was legally insane at the time of the killings.
Under Texas law, defendants are not guilty by reason if insanity if they had a severe mental defect that prevented them from discerning right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.
If the defense persuades a jury of that, Yates will be committed to a state mental hospital. If not, she faces the possibility of being sent to the Texas death chamber, the nation's busiest.
The judge has not set a trial date yet. In the meantime, Yates will remain in the psychiatric wing of the Harris County Jail, where she has been receiving treatment since the killings.
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I don't understand why she was charged with only two of the five killings. Anyone?
posted on September 22, 2001 06:52:50 PM
Probably so they can try her for each of the others in turn until they have a conviction.
I know this completely goes against the spirit of double jeopardy but that is how prosecuters earn their records. The feds use the shotgun form of this tactic - filing 50 or 60 seperate charges against someone. It is almost certain with that many charges they will convince SOMEONE that at least one of the charges is reasonable. It gets to the point it is like -- if they can think of that many something must be true. The "If you are so innocent why did I arrest you?" attitude.
posted on September 22, 2001 07:24:04 PM
If this woman was a known psychotic after the birth of her fourth child, did her husband, doctor or family think it would get better after her fifth? Was she on medication and receiving therapy for this? Or is this another example of a woman in trouble and those closest to her looking the other way? I don't know all of the details, so I have no right to pass judgement, but unless this woman just snapped that day, there would have been clues to those that were closest to her that something was seriously wrong and that there were 5 children in harms way. But I guess they have to live with themselves if they could have acted to get her help and didn't. This case sickens me because of the horror of those 5 children dying at the hands of their mother and the husband who couldn't see how sick his wife really was.
posted on September 22, 2001 07:39:14 PM
In a way, I feel sorry for her because she must have been at the lowest possible point in her life to do something like that, but I do hope she gets life in prison and not the death penalty. If she gets medical treatment perhaps she can come to the full realization of what she's done and try to do some good with the rest of her life.
posted on September 22, 2001 07:51:50 PM
I really feel sorry for that woman. I truly believe that she was emotionally at rock bottom. I certainly believe that she needs to be punished, but I hope that her mental/hormonal condition is taken into account. Her mind had to be really messed up to kill her five children. Even if she was on medication, it takes a few weeks for it to fully kick in, and maybe it wasn't the right kind for her.
She's prone to depression, and now she has to live with this for the rest of her life too. I certainly don't agree with what she did, but I really do feel sorry for her.
