Yates' Attorney Comes Up With Money

HOUSTON -- An indigence hearing for convicted murderer Andrea Pia Yates was canceled Thursday, because Yates' attorney said that he's come up with a plan for some much needed money.

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Yates' Attorney Discusses Plans

Yates was transferred Wednesday to the Harris County jail to attend the proceeding.

Attorneys were going to ask District Judge Belinda Hill to declare Yates indigent, so that she could receive a free copy of her trial transcript, which costs about $50,000, and needed for her appeal.

But to be declared indigent, Yates, who admitted to drowning her five children last year, would have had to testify in court.

"I've seen her, (and) she has a vacuum as far as short-term memory is concerned, and I just didn't want to put her though that," said Yates' attorney George Parnham.

Parnham said that he's reached an agreement with the court reporter, but won't disclose the terms, or who's paying for it.

"We entered into an agreement, and I can't get into the specifics of it to include amounts and things of that nature," Parnham said.

He said that he expects to get the transcripts in about four to five months, and that he is working on Yates' appeal.

Parnham, along with Yates' husband and mother, visited Yates after she arrived at the psychiatric unit of the jail.

Yates' condition, which has deteriorated since she's been in prison, has improved a little, but her medication still needs adjusting, Parnham said.

Yates pleaded legal insanity, but jurors convicted her March 12 in the drownings of Noah, 7; John, 5, and Mary, 6 months.

The Clear Lake mother has also confessed to drowning Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.

She's incarcerated at the Jerry H. Hodge and Skyview Units, which is a psychiatric facility for inmates.

Yates becomes eligible for parole in 2041.