False Testimony Prompts Overturn Of Yates' Convictions

HOUSTON -- When an appeals panel Thursday tossed out the convictions of Andrea Yates in the drowning deaths of her children, the Houston woman reacted with a smile and a sense of shock.

A three-judge appeals court in Texas sided with a defense claim that Yates had been convicted three years ago partly on the false testimony of a prosecution expert witness.

---

Slideshow: Images From Multiple Murder Case
Video: Yates' Mother Reacts To Ruling
Video: Yates' Lawyer Speaks At News Conference
Fact Sheet: Info About Yates And Children
Postpartum Depression: A Very Real Disease
Web Site: Postpartum Stress | Depression After Delivery | Postpartum Support International

---

The witness, psychiatrist Park Dietz, had suggested Yates' actions may have been linked to those depicted in the televsion show "Law and Order." But, in fact, there never had been an episode like the one he described.

On the witness stand, Dietz testified that he had been a consultant on two episodes of the crime and justice drama. He said there had been an episode about a woman with postpartum depression "who drowned her children in the bathtub and was found insane." He said it aired shortly before Yates drowned her children.

In closing arguments, a prosecutor referred to that testimony, saying that Yates "watches 'Law and Order' regularly" and saw the program as a "way out."

A state appeals court panel ruled Thursday that the erroneous testimony could have influenced the jury. The panel ordered a new trial in the drownings of her children, who ranged in age from 6 months to 7 years.

On June 20, 2001, Yates drowned her four sons and infant daughter in the family's bathtub. She then placed the four youngest victims on a bed and covered them with a sheet. Yates left her oldest son's body floating facedown in the bathtub. She called police and told them what she had done. Yates said that Satan had ordered her to kill her five children to save them from eternal damnation.

Jurors in 2002 sentenced Yates to life in prison in the deaths of three of her children. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two.

Yates' attorney, George Parnham, will not ask for her immediate release from prison, reported KPRC-TV in Houston. He said she's "where she needs to be right now."

"I want to be very clear -- we are not going to seek her immediate release from where she is. She is in the best possible place, all things considered, at this time, at this place, under these circumstances," he said.

"This is all that we want for Andrea Yates. We want mental health care. From the very day that I took this case on, that was my concern, that she be treated as she should have been treated within the system. We still live with that desire," Parnham said. "We hope that whatever the prosecutor decides to do that will be the foremost consideration in the decision-making process."

Yates, who will be eligible for parole in 2041, remains jailed at the Skyview Unit in Rusk, where she works in an outdoor flower garden and has janitorial duties.

The warden at the psychiatric prison said Yates is very happy, and that physically and mentally, she's as well as he's ever seen her.

Parnham said he spoke with Yates on Thursday afternoon about the court's decision. She was in the warden's office, along with her psychotherapist and two doctors, reported KPRC-TV in Houston.

"She has lots and lots of questions about what the future holds. I told her, in so many words, that we weren't able to necessarily answer those questions because many of the decisions relative as to what happens to Andrea in the legal process have yet to be made by the district attorney's office," Parnham said.

Parnham said Yates understood the court's ruling.

"She was surprised and not unpleased," he said.

The Texas First Court of Appeals issued its ruling in Houston on Thursday in a 12-page opinion signed by court Justice Sam Nuchia.

A prosecutor in Houston said he would ask for a re-hearing by the appeals court. He said if that fails, he would appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"That is the one thing in this case that allowed the state to say this wasn't psychosis, it wasn't mental illness -- it was a conscious plan. Without the testimony of Dr. Dietz, the state would not have been able to make their case," Yates' appeal attorney Troy McKinney said. "This case boiled down to a battle of the experts and the powerful testimony of Dr. Dietz ultimately prevailed."

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said Dietz's testimony about the television show came during cross-examination by Yates' defense attorney. There were three weeks of testimony that dealt with Yates' plans to kill her children, and her knowledge that doing so was wrong, he said.

"Dr. Dietz did not suggest by that testimony or elsewhere that (Yates) used that episode in order to assist her in planning, premeditating or calculating the killing of her children," Curry wrote. "There was a great deal of other evidence which revealed that (Yates) planned and/or premeditated her killing of her children."

Curry cited a tape-recorded police interview with Yates in which she said she had thought about killing her children for two years and in the weeks leading up to the drownings had filled the bathtub with water but "didn't do it that time."

Her appeal cited 19 errors from her 2002 trial.

Among the other errors cited by Yates' attorneys are the court's decision to show jurors the clothing the children were wearing when they died; the requirement that jurors be "death qualified" because the case involved capital murder charges, which can carry the death penalty; and the judge not informing jurors of the consequences of an innocent by reason of insanity verdict.

The appeal court's decision is expected in three to six months.

During her trial, psychiatrists testified Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but defense and prosecution witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing that drowning her children was wrong -- the two requirements to be declared legally insane in Texas. Jurors determined Yates knew it was wrong to kill her children and convicted her.

Earlier this year, her husband, Russell, filed for divorce. He attended Tuesday's appeal and wasn't wearing a wedding ring.

Yates' Mother Relieved At Ruling

Andrea Yates' mother, Karin Kennedy, said she feels hopeful for the first time in more than two years after hearing the appeal court's ruling, reported KPRC-TV in Houston.

"I think there's a lot more people now that realize that she was sick," Kennedy said.

She believes her daughter should never have been incarcerated.

"Because she really didn't know what she had done, what she was doing. I mean, she had postpartum depression with all five children," Kennedy said.

She said she was surprised at the decision, especially since it came quicker than expected.

"They told us an appeal could take four to six months, so I'm really surprised," Kennedy said. "It was hard to grasp at first because I had just gotten out of bed."

At the very least, Kennedy said she hopes for a reduced sentenced from a new trial.

"I know she won't get free, but at least I hope she gets a lesser time," she said.

Kennedy said she visits Yates three Saturdays each month, while Yates' husband, Rusty, visits on the fourth Saturday. Her next visit is scheduled for Saturday and Kennedy said she looks forward to talking with Yates about the court's ruling.