HOUSTON -- A defense psychiatrist Tuesday stuck to his assessment that Andrea Yates was psychotic at the time she drowned her five children last year.

Under cross-examinaion, Dr. Phillip Resnick agreed with prosecutor Joe Owmby that Yates knew she was wrong legally when she killed her children last June. However, she believed she had no other choice, Resnick said.

"Because of her dilemma, what she perceived as right was to take her children's life on earth to prevent them from eternal damnation," he said.

Resnick testified for the defense Friday. He was unavailable Monday and returned to be cross-examined Tuesday.

Yates, 37, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, faces two capital murder charges in three of the drownings: 7-year-old Noah, 5-year-old John and 6-month-old Mary. Charges could be filed later in the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2. Yates could be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.

Yates' mother, Karin Kennedy, is also expected to be called by the defense to testify on Tuesday, after which Yates' attorneys could wrap up their case.

Once the defense rests, prosecutors will call witnesses to refute defense testimony.

The jury could get the case on Monday.

Monday's Testimony

Meanwhile, a psychiatrist who wrote that Yates had no symptoms of psychosis two days before she drowned her five children in a bathtub came under fire Monday from a defense lawyer who suggested the notes could have been added later.

The tense exchange occurred at the start of the third week in Yates' murder trial.

Defense attorneys are trying to show Yates didn't know right from wrong at the time of the killings because she was in a psychotic state.

Though Dr. Mohammad Saeed had previously diagnosed Yates as suffering from postpartum depression with possible psychotic features, he denied that he had evidence to show Yates was psychotic two days before the drownings.

Defense attorney George Parnham asked Saeed Monday if all his notes were made at the time of the June 18 visit.

"Absolutely," Saeed responded.

Yates' husband, Russell, contends his wife didn't receive adequate medical care during two extended stays at the Devereux Texas Treatment Network, where Saeed was a unit medical director.

Saeed has been removed as an administrator at the center, though he still treats patients there.

Saeed denied that the cursive writing claiming Yates didn't show psychotic symptoms appeared smaller than other handwriting on the page.

"One could perceive it that way, but I don't see it," he said. "It is my handwriting."

Saeed first treated Yates on April 1 and said she improved during her two-week stay at the facility, but was returned on May 4 after she filled the family's bathtub with water. She was released 10 days later.

"We hospitalized her because I thought filling the bathtub was an indication she might be suicidal," Saeed said.

Ellen Allbritton, who admitted Yates to Devereux on March 31, testified earlier Monday that Yates "had obviously been ill for quite some time."

"When I walked in the room and saw her, I pretty much knew this was someone who needed to be in the hospital," Allbritton said. "She looked mentally ill."

Allbritton said she was frustrated because the medical history provided by Yates' husband didn't match up with the unkempt, nearly catatonic woman before her.

In her medical notes, Allbritton wrote that Yates, whose father had died three weeks earlier, "needs in-patient stabilization for safety of self and others."