Yeah, how was she supposed to know that little voice in her head
telling her to kill her kids wasn't God pulling another Abraham and
Isaac? It was an honest mistake!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/09/national/main1191592.shtml

Andrea Yates Sets Insanity Defense

Yeah, how was she supposed to know that little voice in her head
telling her to kill her kids wasn't God pulling another Abraham and
Isaac? It was an honest mistake!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/09/national/main1191592.shtml

Andrea Yates Sets Insanity Defense



(AP) Andrea Yates pleaded innocent by reason of insanity Monday in the
drowning deaths of her children. It was Yates' first court appearance
since her 2002 capital murder convictions were overturned.

State District Judge Belinda Hill accepted the plea and set a March 20
trial date.

Yates, who wore an oversized orange jail jumpsuit, appeared to have
gained weight since her last appearance before Hill when the judge
sentenced Yates to life in prison.

Prosecutors and Yates' attorney, George Parnham, said they are still
negotiating a plea deal, but both sides said they've agreed not to
discuss them publicly and are preparing for a retrial.

"We don't have an agreement and until there is some agreement, there
is no agreement," Prosecutor Joe Owmby said Monday outside the Harris
County courthouse.

Owmby noted last week that Yates would have to plead guilty to prompt
discussions of how long or where should we be confined. Parnham wants
Yates to be housed in a mental hospital instead of prison.

Parnham said, however, that he won't consider any scenario under which
Yates must plead guilty in order to get the mental health care she
desires.

"There will be no guilty plea," he said. "There are other avenues that
can be explored, but that goes into the type of negotiations ... I
don't want to break my bond with prosecutors about talking about plea
discussions."

Parnham says Yates' mental health care is nonnegotiable.

"We are never shutting the door on trying to get this resolved so that
none of us have to go through the ordeal of another trial," Parnham
said. "That is something that no one relishes. ... Whether we can
achieve that or not is mere conjecture."

Yates, 41, may remain in the custody of the Harris County Sheriff's
Department until she is retried. She is currently in the Harris County
Jail, where mental health experts keep a close watch over her, Parnham
said.

Parnham, however, said he would try this week to get a bond set for
Yates that would allow her to be housed at the Rusk State Hospital
until her trial. Until last week, Yates had been imprisoned at East
Texas' Skyview Prison Unit, a psychiatric prison.

An earlier attempt to get Yates transferred to the state hospital
failed.

"That is a secure mental health facility," Parnham said. "She already
has a doctor assigned to her at Rusk. The administrator has already
approved Andrea's acceptance into that mental health facility.
Everyone acknowledges that that is where Andrea can receive the best
mental health care this state can offer."

Jurors rejected Yates' insanity defense during her original trial,
finding her guilty of two capital murder charges for the 2001 deaths
of three of the children drowned in the family bathtub: 7-year-old
Noah, 5-year-old John and the youngest, 6-month-old Mary. Evidence was
presented about the drowning of the other two children, Paul, 3, and
Luke, 2, but Yates was not charged in their deaths.

The First Court of Appeals in Houston overturned Yates' convictions
last January because the state's expert witness, forensic psychiatrist
Park Dietz, testified about a nonexistent episode on television's "Law
& Order" series. Dietz said a show about a woman with postpartum
depression who drowned her children aired shortly before Yates killed
her five children.

Prosecutor Kaylynn Williford would not say whether prosecutors will
have another mental health expert evaluate Yates and review her
medical records leading up to the new trial.

"We're not going to comment on trial strategy," she said.

To prove insanity in Texas, a defendant must prove she suffered from a
severe mental disease or defect and did not know her actions were
wrong.

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



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