Dallas Morning News Texas Seeks Death for Mom Accused of Drowning Kids< By Bruce Nichols HOUSTON – -- Prosecutors announced Wednesday that they will
seek the death penalty for a woman who admitted drowning her
five children in a bathtub at home. But whether Andrea Pia Yates will go to trial depends on a
hearing ordered by state District Judge Belinda Hill earlier
in the day. It will determine whether Mrs. Yates, 37, is
mentally competent to assist in her defense. District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal made his decision to seek
the death penalty after lawyers entered a plea of not guilty
by reason of insanity for Mrs. Yates. Mr. Rosenthal "believes the citizens of Harris County ought
to be able to consider the full range of punishment in this
case, including the death penalty," a statement issued by his
office said. Before a trial, Mrs. Yates' mental fitness to understand
the proceedings must be decided. Judge Hill said the hearing
would be scheduled within two weeks. Defense lawyers George Parnham and Wendell Odom could not
be reached for comment, but no one involved in the case has
spoken to reporters since the judge imposed a gag order
shortly after the June 20 crime. The decision was Mr. Rosenthal's highest-profile call since
succeeding longtime District Attorney Johnny Holmes in
January. Mr. Holmes' willingness to seek the death penalty
whenever the law applied made Houston the nation's death
penalty capital. Mr. Rosenthal's approach – let the community decide –
appears "similar to that taken by his predecessor," South
Texas College of Law professor Catherine Greene Burnett said.
Mr. Holmes often answered critics by saying that if people
didn't like the law, they should change it. The decision no doubt will be controversial, experts said.
"Whenever we have cases involving women, I think it changes
public perception," Ms. Burnett said. "That renews discussions
about the death penalty across the board." Former prosecutor Rusty Hardin, now in private practice,
focused on the five children killed. "This will be unpopular
with some people," he said. But "when there's five children
involved, a lot of prosecutors would say they have to let the
community decide." South Texas law professor Neil McCabe, a frequent critic of
the death penalty, focused on the timing, saying it appeared
Mr. Rosenthal might be "trying to make today's news story the
death penalty rather than the insanity defense or the judge
ordering a competency hearing." Earlier in the day, Mrs. Yates entered the courtroom for
her scheduled arraignment clenching and unclenching her jaw
muscles. She never looked at her husband, Russell, a NASA
engineer, who sat in the front row. She was silent and expressionless as her lawyers entered
the plea, arguing that she is mentally incapable of
participating in court proceedings concerning the drownings.
Prosecutors told Judge Hill that their expert had found
Mrs. Yates competent. Defense lawyers said another expert had
determined that she is incompetent. The judge said the
conflict between experts justifies a hearing before a jury.
A grand jury indicted Mrs. Yates on two capital murder
charges. One indictment was issued under a law applying to the
killing of a child younger than 6 and cites Mrs. Yates'
youngest child, Mary, 6 months, as the victim. The second indictment comes under a law applying to
multiple homicides and names as victims Mrs. Yates' oldest
children, Noah, 7, and John, 5. She also told police that she killed sons Paul, 3, and
Luke, 2. Although they weren't listed in indictments, their
deaths are expected to come up at her trial. Her husband said Mrs. Yates had suffered from depression
and had been under psychiatric care before the drownings,
police said. The competence question and the insanity defense are
separate matters, Mr. McCabe said. If a jury finds Mrs. Yates mentally unfit to stand trial,
the murder trial would be postponed for at least 90 days
pending a determination that she has become competent to
understand and participate in her defense. "They have regular time periods for review, and it's up to
the judge," Mr. McCabe said. "Doctors say how she's doing, and
the judge determines whether she's then competent." An insanity plea would come into play if and when Mrs.
Yates goes to trial. The question then would be whether Mrs. Yates, though
mentally competent to stand trial, was so mentally ill at the
time of the crime that she didn't understand that her actions
were wrong, said Chris Tritico, a lawyer not involved in the
case. Insanity defenses are rarely successful in Texas, Mr.
McCabe said. "The standard is you've got to show severe mental disease
or defect, and you've got to show it resulted in you not
knowing right from wrong," he said. According to information made public in the case, Mrs.
Yates told police that she methodically drowned each of her
children, chasing down Noah after he escaped briefly.
Autopsies found bruises indicating that the children
struggled. "It's a horrific case," Mr. Tritico said. Such actions,
however, "don't mean she wasn't suffering from a mental
illness that caused her not to understand what she was doing
is wrong," he said.
Copyright © 2001. Dallas Morning News. All rights reserved. saved from url:http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/439245_yates_09tex.html
August 9, 2001
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