Supporters Gather For Guilty Yates

HOUSTON -- About a dozen people gathered outside the Houston courthouse Tuesday, holding purple candles or signs showing their support for Andrea Yates. Among them was her husband, Russell, and his mother and brother.

MORE STORIES Lawyer Reads Yates' Thank You Note Yates' Husband Offended By Prosecution VIDEO Watch Sentence Being Read Watch Closing Arguments In Penalty Phase Mar. 14: Experts Weigh In On Husband's Fate Mar. 14: Defense Prepares For Yates Fate Mar. 13: Watch Legal Experts Debate Mar. 12: Watch Yates' Reaction To Verdict FEEDBACK Agree With Sentence? Agree With Yates Verdict? Your Thoughts On The Sentence SLIDESHOW See Family Pictures INFORMATION Read Transcript Of Yates' Interview With HPD POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION A Very Real Disease Postpartum Help: (805) 967-7636 Antidepressant Information Postpartum Stress Depression After Delivery Locate A Therapist In Your Area

Andrea Yates' mother-in-law, Dora Yates, said those gathered at the vigil want to show her they love and respect her.

She also said they "want everyone to know this has been a travesty of justice.''

Russell Yates says he hopes to address the court during the sentencing phase of the trial. He said, "I really want to. It's not going to be typical.''

Yates Found Guilty

Yates showed no reaction Tuesday when a jury found the Houston mother guilty on two counts of capital murder for drowning her five children last summer.

Yates' husband buried his head in his hands and was heard saying,"Oh God," when the jury returned its verdict after deliberating for three-and-a-half hours.

The jury of eight women and four men asked for the legal definition of insanity and asked for a tape recorder.

Yates wore a white sweater and wept several times during the final arguments. Her attorneys said that she was very upset by the verdict.

Defense attorney George Parnham said that she cried and then thanked her defense team.

"We spent three weeks in the presentation of evidence," Parnham said. "We spent a month in jury selection, and I thought we laid out a strong case for mental illness and the insanity defense."

Parnham said that the state would eventually have to address issues concering mental illness and the law.

Yates' sentencing will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Harris County Courthouse. She will either receive the death penalty or life in prison. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

Prosecution, Defense Finish Closing Argument

Before the closing arguments, State District Judge Belinda Hill gave the jury its three choices for a verdict: guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hill also explained to jurors about Yates' decision not to take the stand.

"In this case, the defendant has elected not to testify," Hill said. "And you are instructed that you cannot and must not refer to or allude to that fact throughout your deliberations or taken through consideration for any purpose whatsoever as a circumstance against her."

Prosecutors began their closing arguments shortly after 9:30 a.m. Central time and finished at about 11:45 a.m.

"I know that this whole three-week process has been much harder on you than it has on me," Prosecutor Joe Owmby said.

"Let me tell you what this case is about. This case is about the law of insanity, and what it says, and what it means, and the implications it holds for the society.

"It's about why we say the law is that you have to know right from wrong, and why we don't say that the product of your mental illness is enough for you to be found insane."

Owmby said Yates might have believed it was "in the best interest" of the kids to drown them in the family bathtub last summer. "But that's not the law in Texas."

The defense began its closing arguments and its address of the jurors about 15 minutes later.

In his closing statement, defense attorney Wendell Odom termed mental illness a medical condition. He compared Yates' case with a truck driver running over and killing five children after suffering a stroke.

Odom said a jury wouldn't find the truck driver guilty of murder.

"In essence, what you're really going to decide is something that although the issue in dispute is hotly contested, one thing is not contested," Odom said. "Every lawyer in this courtroom will tell you, and every lawyer in this courtroom will agree, that you decide what right is and what wrong is."