HOUSTON -- Russell Yates bears no criminal responsibility for the drowning deaths of his five children almost a year ago, Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Friday.
"We have no prosecutable case against anyone else at this time," Rosenthal said.
His office prosecuted Yates' wife, Andrea, in March for drowning her children in the family's bathtub last June. She was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Andrea Pia Yates, 37, who has a history of mental illness, contended she was legally insane as she held each of her children face down in the murky water.
She put the bodies of the four youngest children on a bed in the back bedroom of their southeast Houston home. She left the oldest child, 7-year-old Noah, floating face down in the tub.
Then she called an emergency operator who sent police to the home. Officers discovered the bodies.
Shortly after Yates' conviction, Rosenthal acknowledged his office was looking into whether her husband, who was at work at the time of the killings, had any culpability in the drownings of Noah and his four younger siblings: John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and Mary, 6 months.
Russell Yates' attorney, Edward Mallett, said the decision was appropriate.
"Russell Yates is a victim," Mallett said. "He is a victim of a system that didn't care for his wife when he was trying to get care for her. And he will carry this memory with him for the rest of his life."
Yates's Videotaped ConfessionsLate Friday, Rosenthal released videotapes of Andrea Yates taken after the murders of her five children.
Those tapes include her interview with investigators and psychiatrists in jail.
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