BREAKING NEWS: Andrea Yates Not Guilty in Retrial

[Aslkahuna]

I don't know about TX but in CA Charlie Manson is still in the State Institution for the Criminally Insane.

Steve

[alicia-w]

Charles Manson is in Corcoran State Prison.

[TexasStooge]

Andrea Yates rejects 35-year jail term offer

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — Andrea Yates has rejected a plea offer that would have sent her to prison for 35 years for drowning her children and is expected to face a retrial in March.

Prosecutor Joe Owmby said the state would leave the offer on the table until March 10—10 days before Yates' capital murder retrial is set to begin for the deaths of three of the five children in 2001.

Yates has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, as she did at her first trial. The plea offer would require her to plead guilty to the lesser charge of murder.

"We have rejected that recommendation," Yates' attorney George Parnham said Monday.

State District Judge Belinda Hill granted the state's request Monday to hire a second expert witness to evaluate Yates. The first, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, gave false testimony that led to the overturning of Yates' two capital murder convictions.

Parnham opposed another evaluation of Yates.

Hill planned to rule Monday on Parnham's request to halt the trial because of double jeopardy claims based on prosecutorial misconduct.

When it overturned Yates convictions in the drownings, the First Court of Appeals found there was no prosecutorial misconduct. A grand jury in 2003 cleared Dietz of any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say Dietz's false testimony about a nonexistent episode of "Law & Order" was a simple mistake.

Jurors were told of Dietz's false testimony after they rejected Yates' insanity defense but before sentencing Yates to life in prison.

During her 2002 trial, psychiatrists testified Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but expert witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing that drowning her children was wrong.

[george_r_1961]

Why are they offering her a plea deal? She should NEVER walk free again. She deserves the needle but obviously thats not going to happen.

[alicia-w]

they're offering a plea on the off chance that she might take it instead of taking the chance of losing her not guilty by reason of insanity. if she is convicted again, she'll get a heckuva lot more than 35 years. her lawyer is an idiot for not taking the deal.

[Terrell]

Since they only charged her for 3 of the murders, they'll just charge her again for the other 2 murders if they don't get the sentence that they want.

[TexasStooge]

Judge delays decision in Yates trial

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A judge on Tuesday delayed a decision on whether to allow Andrea Yates' capital murder retrial to proceed in March as scheduled.

State District Judge Belinda Hill on Monday rejected defense attorney George Parnham's claim that prosecutorial misconduct in Yates' 2002 trial created double jeopardy that should prevent her from being tried again in the bathtub drowning deaths of her children.

Yates' capital murder conviction was overturned last year because an expert witness for the prosecution, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, gave false testimony about a non-existent episode of the television show "Law & Order."

Hill is expected to rule Wednesday on a prosecution request to find the defense's claim was frivolous. If she agrees, the trial can begin March 20. If not, the trial will be on hold until defense appeals are exhausted.

"Whenever this case goes to trial, be it March the 20th or some time this summer, we'll be prepared and ready to go," Parnham said. "I think neither side will kick and scream if there is some additional time made available to prepare. It is going to be a lengthy trial. It is going to be complex."

On Monday, Parnham formally rejected prosecutors' offer that Yates plead guilty or no contest to the lesser charge of murder and serve 35 years in prison. Prosecutors said they would leave the offer on the table until 10 days before Yates' retrial on two capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her five children.

Yates, 41, drowned her five children, ages 6 months to 7 years, in the family bathtub in June 2001. She has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.

Parnham held out hope Tuesday that some agreement could be reached. He said he just doesn't want Yates placed in the general prison population – a promise prosecutors say they can't make.

"Neither side, and I have said this all along, wants to go through the horror of revisiting this issue," Parnham said. "We believe that she needs security. We believe that she needs mental health care and she needs to be in a location that addresses both."

Parnham said he has already offered that Yates would plead no contest to one capital murder charge if she is given credit for her time served in prison and placed in a mental health facility. He said if Yates is ever released from that facility, Parnham would leave the option for prosecutors to try her on another capital murder case.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys would elaborate on what they discussed in Hill's chambers Tuesday.

"The case has already been reversed once, so we want to make sure we proceed correctly and appropriately before making any final decisions," prosecutor Alan Curry said. "That is why we are taking so much care over this."

During her 2002 trial, psychiatrists testified Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but expert witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing that drowning her children was wrong.

[TexasStooge]

Judge: Yates retrial can proceed

HOUSTON, Texas (DallasNews.com/AP) - A judge on Wednesday allowed Andrea Yates' capital murder retrial to go forward later this month as planned.

State District Judge Belinda Hill ruled frivolous the defense claim that retrying Yates in the 2001 drownings of three of her five children constituted double jeopardy. She says the new trial may proceed, regardless of any defense appeals.

Yates will now face retrial March 20 on two capital murder charges for the 2001 bathtub drowning deaths of three of her five children.

Parnham claimed prosecutorial misconduct in Yates' 2002 trial created double jeopardy that should prevent her from being tried again in the bathtub drowning deaths of her children.

Yates' capital murder conviction was overturned last year because an expert witness for the prosecution, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, gave false testimony about a nonexistent episode of the television show "Law & Order."

Earlier this week, Parnham formally rejected prosecutors' offer that Yates plead guilty or no contest to the lesser charge of murder and serve 35 years in prison. Prosecutors said they would leave the offer on the table until March 10.

Yates, 41, drowned her five children, ages 6 months to 7 years, in the family bathtub in June 2001. She has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.

[CentralFlGal]

Instead of the death penalty, let her rot in a cell with a television in front of her playing nothing but birthing video tapes. If she wants insane, she can have it.

[GalvestonDuck]

*twiddles thumbs, waiting for the trial*

[george_r_1961]

Instead of the death penalty, let her rot in a cell with a television in front of her playing nothing but birthing video tapes. If she wants insane, she can have it.

I agree 100 percent

[Brent]

Instead of the death penalty, let her rot in a cell with a television in front of her playing nothing but birthing video tapes. If she wants insane, she can have it.

[alicia-w]

that isnt really fair. the woman has been diagnosed with a real condition. i dont condone what she's done but she's suffers every day.

[TexasStooge]

Yates ordered to surrender to jail

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A judge ordered Andrea Yates to turn herself in to jail by Monday, a few days before her retrial in the bathtub drownings of her children.

State District Judge Belinda Hill in Houston on Friday denied a lawyer's request that Yates be housed in a private Houston psychiatric facility rather than the county jail during her retrial.

The trial starts with jury selection next week and is expected to last through the end of July.

The 41-year-old Yates wasn't in court during today's hearing.

Yates has been in a state psychiatric hospital since she was released from prison on $200,000 bail in February. Her 2002 conviction was overturned last year when an appeals court said a prosecution witness' erroneous testimony may have swayed jurors.

Yates again is pleading innocent by reason of insanity. If convicted, she could be imprisoned for life.

[Audrey2Katrina]

If convicted, she could be imprisoned for life.

I would hope THIS is what she gets... I really don't care about her insanity, if that's what it was. Anyone that "insane" is a proven menace to society, and the souls of those kids cry out for some semblance of justice IMO. Anyone who would wantonly take another human life is "insane" if you ask me. I agree, she deserves the needle, but in light of the fact that it won't happen, she certainly needs to be put away for LIFE.

A2K

[Janice]

Yes, I agree with you. Regardless, she was charged with murder of her children by a jury and that sentence should stick. She needs to be held accountable for her actions. It was a shame and maybe her depression triggered it, but she is still guilty.

[beachbum_al]

Reason of Insanity...She had to be insane to do what she did but it doesn't make it right. I keep thinking of what those little children went through and this monster is out pleading she is insane. She might have a real condition but that doesn't mean she is innocent. She admitted she killed the kids and she obviously knew what she was doing.

As a mom I just can't understand how a mom could do this to their own children. It is beyond my comprehension. I hope she gets the needle but I know she will not. It is sad that the criminals have more rights than the victims.

Sorry I am on one of my trips again. This just really bother me. I need to go kiss my girls right now.

[GalvestonDuck]

I can't wait until Monday....

[TexasStooge]

Yates sobs on seeing drowned son video

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — Andrea Yates sobbed in court Tuesday upon seeing crime-scene footage of her 7-year-old son floating dead in the bathtub and the bodies of her four younger children laid out on a soggy bed.

On the second day of her murder trial, Yates gazed intently at the screen as it showed toys in the yard and a baby swing hanging from a tree outside their suburban Houston home on June 20, 2001, the day she drowned her five children in the tub.

As the camera moved inside to show the book-filled room in which she home-schooled the youngsters, and the kitchen strewn with half-empty cereal bowls, she put her fingers nervously to her mouth.

Yates looked down when the screen showed footage of the bathroom where 7-year-old Noah was floating face-down, but then her eyes darted up and she began to cry. She continued shaking and crying as the video moved down the hallway and into the master bedroom where 5-year-old John, 3-year-old Paul, 2-year-old Luke and 6-month-old Mary were on the bed in their pajamas, as if they were asleep.

The video then faded to black. At least five jurors wiped their eyes and noses before state District Judge Belinda Hill called for a mid-morning break. Later, Yates cried quietly and blew her nose as crime-scene photos were shown of the children.

The case against Yates is being retried after her 2002 conviction was overturned last year because of some erroneous testimony.

Houston Police Sgt. David Svahn testified that soon after arriving at the Yates' home that day, a man ran toward him in the yard shouting, "What did she do to my kids? What did she do to my kids?"

Svahn said he did not know at first that it was Rusty Yates, the children's father. But Rusty Yates then identified himself and said that his wife had called him at his job at NASA's Johnson Space Center, telling him to come home because she had hurt the kids.

Rusty Yates told Svahn that his wife said to him, "I finally did it."

Defense attorney George Parnham asked Svahn if he knew that Rusty Yates has denied saying that, but the officer didn't have to answer because the judge sustained the prosecution's objection.

Rusty Yates remarried in March, a year after divorcing Andrea. But Rusty Yates has said he continues to support his ex-wife and is expected to testify for the defense. He was in court Monday morning, but has not been inside since then because he is a potential witness.

The defense says that Yates, who again has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and did not know her actions were wrong.

If convicted, Yates will be sentenced to life in prison because prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. After the first jury rejected death, prosecutors could not seek it again because they did not find any new evidence.

Andrea Yates is being tried only in the deaths of Mary, John and Noah, a common practice in cases of multiple slayings.

Both sides are expected to call most of the same witnesses in the trial, expected to last five weeks.

Prosecutors have said they plan to once again call Dr. Park Dietz, the psychiatrist who testified that Yates knew her actions were wrong. Dietz, also a consultant to the "Law & Order" television series, told jurors that one episode depicting a woman who drowned her kids in a bathtub—and was acquitted by reason of insanity—aired before the Yates children died.

But no such episode existed, attorneys learned after Yates was convicted but before jurors sentenced her to life in prison.

That mistake caused an appeals court in Houston last year to overturn Yates' conviction.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/w ... 3bf51.html

[TexasStooge]

Defense begins in second Yates trial

HOUSTON, Texas (DallasNews.com/AP) - Andrea Yates believed that television cartoon characters told her she was a bad mother who fed her children too much candy and cereal, a jail psychiatrist testified Thursday.

Dr. Melissa R. Ferguson was the first defense witness in the second murder trial for Yates, who has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. She is being retried because her 2002 conviction for drowning her five children was overturned last year by an appeals court citing some erroneous testimony.

Yates, who turns 42 on Sunday, will be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Ferguson, the former medical director of psychiatric services at the Harris County Jail, talked to Yates the day after her arrest. Ferguson said Yates suffered from a major depressive disorder and was psychotic, picking at her lip until it bled.

Ferguson said Yates became upset at times during the interview but otherwise showed little emotion. She said Yates could not provide her children's birthdays, although the day before Yates had given the information to a police detective. Ferguson said Yates could have been confused because she had just been prescribed new medication earlier that morning.

"No, I do not believe she was faking her symptoms," Ferguson testified.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after calling 12 witnesses in the first part of the trial, in which the state's task was to prove that Yates killed the children.

The defense has never disputed that Yates killed 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah in the family's Houston-area home on June 20, 2001.

But defense attorney George Parnham said she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, had a "prophecy" in which she thought that killing the youngsters was the only way to save them. She also thought that would somehow kill Satan, Parnham said.

"That underscores how crazy she was on the day she killed her kids," Parnham said Wednesday outside the courthouse.

The trial now moves to the phase in which the defense tries to show Yates meets the state's legal definition of insanity: that because of a severe mental disease or defect, someone did not know at the time of the offense that it was wrong.

The children's father, Rusty Yates, who divorced Andrea last year and married another woman in March, has said he continues to support his ex-wife and is to testify for the defense.

State District Judge Belinda Hill admonished Rusty Yates on Wednesday, when court was not in session, for doing a media interview earlier this week against her orders for witnesses in the case.

The last prosecution witness was Harris County Medical Examiner Luis A. Sanchez, who said bruises on the children's bodies indicated they struggled as Andrea Yates slowly drowned them.

Sanchez also said their brains, which were significantly heavier than normal children their ages, indicate they had been held under water for minutes rather than seconds. The 9 inches of water was murky from the youngsters' bodily secretions, Sanchez said.

"It was a slow death; it was not quick," Sanchez told jurors.

Prosecutors said that during the trial's rebuttal phase, after the defense presents its case, they will call Dr. Park Dietz, the psychiatrist whose testimony inadvertently caused Yates' conviction to be overturned.

Dietz, also a consultant to the "Law & Order" television series, told jurors in her first trial that one episode depicting a woman who drowned her kids in a bathtub -- and was acquitted by reason of insanity -- aired before the Yates children died.

But no such episode existed, attorneys learned after Yates was convicted but before jurors sentenced her to life in prison.