And for those of you dabbling in abnormal psych... Mom's Sanity Focus of Drowning Trial Texas Woman Faces Death in 5 Kids' Slayings
USA TODAY - January 04, 2002 The murder trial of Andrea Yates, the Houston mom who drowned her five children in the family bathtub last June, is set to begin Monday in what promises to become one of the most high-profile and emotionally charged trials in recent memory. Yates, 37, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Jury selection is expected to last five weeks. Testimony gets underway in February. The prosecutors agree that Yates is mentally ill. But because Yates is mentally ill, that doesn't necessarily mean she was insane when she killed her children. Insanity is a legal term. To prove it, Yates' lawyers must demonstrate that her mental perceptions were so distorted that she did not know it was wrong to drown the children. Most facts of the case are not in dispute. On June 20, about an hour after Yates' husband, Rusty, a NASA engineer, went to work, she filled the bathtub and methodically drowned 6-month-old Mary and her four brothers, Luke, 2, Paul, 3, John, 5, and Noah, 7. Yates called 911 and showed police to the bedroom, where she had tucked four of the children into bed, as if asleep. The jury will hear the 911 tape, in which she asked police to come to the house but refused to say why. Jurors will also hear Yates' confession to police. The lawyers will argue over how the jury should interpret the tone of Yates' voice on the tape and how much weight to give to her confession. They will disagree over the meaning of her remark to police that she thought about drowning the children for months and made the decision the night before. Prosecutors see these comments as premeditation, one of the requirements they must establish to win a capital murder case. The defense sees Yates' remarks as confirmation of the seriousness of her illness. In the end, much of the testimony will involve a battle between the state and defense psychiatrists over whether Yates was legally insane that morning. The prosecutors have recruited Park Dietz, an acclaimed forensic psychiatrist, to testify in support of their theory that Yates may have been depressed but was sane on June 20. Dietz almost always testifies for the prosecution and specializes in high-profile cases. They include those of John Hinckley, found not guilty by reason of insanity for his attempt to assassinate President Reagan in 1981, and Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons in 1994 when she rolled her car into a lake. Calling an expert witness from out of state to testify, when Houston is famous for its Texas Medical Center, carries some risk. ''Houston and the medical center are one of the most world-renowned places for medicine,'' says Dick DeGuerin, a prominent Houston defense attorney. ''It indicates to me that they couldn't find somebody here who would go along with the prosecution's theory of the case.'' The judge has barred the lawyers and witnesses from talking about the case. Even so, the defense faces long odds. Insanity defenses are rarely used in court and rarely succeed. Last month, an Illinois jury rejected an insanity defense by a mother who killed her three children in a Chicago suburb. One of the biggest hurdles for Yates is that juries don't like insanity defenses. Jurors often believe, incorrectly, that defendants who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are freed. In fact, studies show that defendants acquitted in insanity cases and sent to mental hospitals spend more time confined than if they had been convicted and sentenced to prison. Yates' lawyers, George Parnham and Wendell Odom, wanted to tell jurors that Yates would likely end up confined to a hospital if acquitted. But Texas law prevents jurors from being informed about the consequences of an insanity acquittal. State District Judge Belinda Hill denied the defense team's request. To some degree, Yates' lawyers are expected to put on trial the doctors and hospitals that treated Yates but failed to prevent the tragedy. The defense will likely emphasize Yates' stay at the Devereux Texas Treatment Network in League City, a Houston suburb. It was the last of three hospitals that treated her. Her in-patient treatment there involved watching films about drug and substance abuse, even though she was not a substance abuser, and a psychiatrist took her off the anti-psychotic drug she had taken earlier with some success. ''If the lawyers can show that this was one of the triggering events that caused her descent into madness, then the doctor who made that decision is going to have to explain that,'' DeGuerin says. Yates faces two capital murder charges involving three of the children: Mary, John and Noah. But the trial will involve all five children. Yates has been in the Harris County Jail since June 20 and has been treated with antipsychotic medication, which has helped her recover enough to be found mentally competent to stand trial. Early on, Rusty Yates declared his support for his wife and has not wavered. ''You know, the person that drowned those children is not Andrea. If your brain's sick, then you can think things that aren't real,'' Rusty Yates told CBS' 60 Minutes last month in the only interview he has given. ''I don't blame her a bit.'' A special prosecutor is investigating whether Rusty Yates and Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal violated the judge's gag order when they appeared on the television show. Rosenthal has said he is seeking the death penalty to give the jury a full range of options. On 60 Minutes, he elaborated: ''I want to hold her accountable for the death of those children.'' --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
