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Friday March 15 8:12 PM ET
Texas Mother Gets Life Sentence in Drowning Case
by Jeff Franks
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas jury sentenced Andrea Yates to life in prison on Friday for drowning her five children while she was deeply psychotic, sparing her from death by lethal injection after a stunningly swift 35 minutes of deliberations.
The sentence means Yates, 37, must serve at least 40 years behind bars before being eligible for parole. The only other punishment option under tough Texas laws was the death penalty. Even the prosecution was split on seeking the death penalty, with one prosecutor saying the facts and evidence of the case did not merit asking jurors to impose it.
Yates, a former nurse and high school valedictorian, was convicted by the same jury of methodically drowning her children -- Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, six months -- in the family bathtub on June 20, 2001.
She said she killed them to save them from the devil and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Mental health experts said Yates was profoundly psychotic at the time of the crime.
The case became the focal point of a national debate on the treatment, both legal and medical, of the mentally ill and once again put the spotlight on harsh Texas justice.
Husband Rusty Yates, who urged treatment not punishment for his wife, said it was a bittersweet day that never should have come.
``I believe in Andrea. She is the kindest, sweetest, most gentle person I have ever met, but she is a victim here, not only of the medical community, but the legal system,'' he told reporters.
``How could she have been so ill and the medical community not treat her?''
THE PROSECUTION IS SPLIT
In a reflection of the mixed feelings provoked by the case, lead prosecutor Joe Owmby told the jury in closing arguments that Yates should receive a life sentence, while prosecution partner Kaylynn Williford called for the death penalty.
``I did not think the facts and the evidence warranted me recommending a death sentence in this case,'' Owmby said.
``In this imperfect world, the best we could do was to see that justice was done for them as victims of a horrendous crime. Justice was done today,'' he said.
Williford said she thought Yates should die to send a message that children must not be killed.
The jury of eight women and four men reached the verdict after just 35 minutes of deliberations by finding that Yates was not a future danger to society, one of two questions jurors had to answer to reach their decision. The other asked if there were mitigating factors against imposing a death sentence, to which they replied ``no.''
Yates showed little reaction to the verdict, but her family members, including elderly mother Jutta Karin Kennedy, wept in sadness and relief.
The jurors on Tuesday took just 3 1/2 hours to convict Yates of capital murder after hearing three weeks of testimony.
Yates, experts testified, had a history of mental problems that included suicide attempts and mental-hospital stays, triggered by postpartum depression following the births of Luke and Mary. At the time of the murders, the depression combined with schizophrenia to make her delusional and nearly catatonic, the experts said.
But Texas law requires only that a person know right from wrong to be judged sane. Yates said she knew society would view the murders as wrong, despite her purpose of saving the children from the devil.
Yates' lawyers, George Parnham and Wendell Odom, said they hoped the case would prompt legal reforms and better understanding of mental illness. They also said they planned to appeal her conviction.
Texas leads the nation in executions, while Harris County, of which Houston is the county seat, leads Texas in sending inmates to the death chamber.
'A DIFFICULT DEFEAT'
``This was a difficult defeat for us, but we, if anything, at least raised certain issues in the mind of the public and if we did that, then at least our defense has not been in vain,'' Odom said.
The defense also argued that had Yates received proper treatment and not been rushed out of hospitals because of health-insurance limitations, the crime would not have happened. Just two weeks before the drownings, her psychiatrist inexplicably took her off anti-psychotic drugs, they said.
Rusty Yates, a NASA engineer, warned those with mentally ill family members to take them to top-notch psychiatrists and not rely on cheaper alternatives such as managed health care as he did.
``I never would have taken us to the doctors and the hospital we did. They miserably failed us,'' he said.
Parnham read a note to reporters from Andrea Yates in which she thanked her supporters, apologized to her family for causing so many problems and lovingly described each of her children.
``I thank God that I was blessed with such a precious family,'' said Yates, who has been on anti-psychotic medicine in jail and is said to be much improved from June 20.
Rusty Yates said he still talks to his children in his prayers and asks them to pray for their mother.
``They loved their mommy and I know they don't hold it against her. They knew she was sick,'' he said.
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