Houston Chronicle
September 22, 2001
Jury Deems Yates Competent Enough to Stand Trial
By Lisa Teachey
A jury today decided Andrea Pia Yates is mentally fit to stand trial on capital murder charges in the drowning deaths of her five children.
The panel of 11 women and one man deliberated 8 hours and 15 minutes over two days before deciding Andrea Pia Yates sufficiently understands the charges against her and has the ability to consult with her attorneys.
The jury's ruling today means a date will be set for Yates' trial, during which another jury will decide whether she was sane or insane at the time of the drownings.
Yates, whose medical records show she had been treated for major depression with psychosis off and on over a two-year period leading up to the deaths, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The housewife summoned police to her home in the 900 block of Beachcomber on June 20 and admitted to drowning Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, 6 months, in the family bathtub.
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is seeking the death penalty.
The jury deliberated five hours Friday, then was sequestered overnight. Deliberations resumed this morning, and jurors met for another three hours and 15 minutes before reaching a verdict.
Under Texas law, a defendant can stand trial only if she meets a legal definition of competency, meaning she understands the charges against her and can aid lawyers in her defense. The issue deals only with her state of mind now, not at the time of the crime.
The defense, which had the burden of proving Yates is incompetent, rested Wednesday after its psychologist testified Yates wanted to be executed so she and Satan would be destroyed. The defense maintained Yates is getting better each day but is not fully competent yet.
In closing arguments Friday, defense lawyers George Parnham and Wendell Odom pleaded with the panel to give Yates more time.
"All we are really arguing is, `Do we do it (have a trial) now or do we do it later?' " Odom said. " ... The way you guarantee you do it one time is by getting the person where they need to be (mentally)."
He added: "We are beyond the days, hopefully, when mental illness will be placed on trial. We have the facilities available to make people well ... to participate in the trial of their lives."
How can a person stand trial for life "when you don't fully realize what's happened?" Odom asked the jury.
Prosecutor Kaylynn Williford told the jury not to be "swayed" by the defense attorneys' argument that they needed more time for Yates to get better.
"We're not disputing Mrs. Yates has a mental illness," Williford said.
But she said Yates proved she understood the legal system when Steven Rubenzer, the court-ordered psychologist, pressed her on the details of the crime and she refused to answer without first talking to her attorney.
"It doesn't matter if she's getting better or not," Williford said. "The fact is she is presently capable. ... She was able to coherently address those issues. That's what they (defense attorneys) are entitled to. Nothing more."
Co-prosecutor Joe Owmby added that Yates can intelligently tell authorities about the crime.
Before the state rested Friday, its final witness, Mary Alice Conroy, the director of forensic clinical psychology at Sam Houston State University, supported Rubenzer's findings that Yates is competent.
But Conroy also said while depression does not affect competency, psychosis can.
Rubenzer testified Wednesday that Yates' psychosis was in full remission.
A rebuttal witness called by the defense Friday -- Dr. Melissa Ferguson, the psychiatrist who treated Yates in jail when she first arrived -- discredited that.
Ferguson said full remission is defined by no signs of symptoms for two months, and said she would not classify Yates as in full remission.
The day before, Rubenzer also said Yates was competent. But under cross examination he admitted her low scores on the appreciation aspect of a competency test meant she wasn't "quite there." She scored well on understanding and reasoning.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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