JAN. 6, 2005 RULING
An appeals court has overturned Andrea Yates' capital murder convictions.
That means Yates faces a new trial.
Those convictions are for the drowning deaths of three of her five children.
She pleaded guilty to killing two other children.
The court has concluded that false testimony by a key prosecution witness affected Yates rights as a defendant and may have affected the jury. (See "Key Testimony: Peter Dietz" below)
ANDREA YATES
Was born July 2, 1964.
She is 40 years old.
She and her family lived in Houston at the time of the deaths.
DEATHS
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 face down in the bathtub.
She called police and told them what she had done.
Yates said that Satan ordered her to kill her five children to save them from eternal damnation.
CHILDREN KILLED
Noah, 7
John, 5
Paul, 3
Luke, 2
Mary, 6 months
Yates held all of their heads under water in the bathtub until they drowned.
CONVICTION
Yates was tried in the deaths of three of her five children, Noah, John and Mary.
She confessed to killing her other two children, Paul and Luke.
She was convicted of capital murder in March 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors had recommended the death penalty.
Experts agreed that Yates suffered from postpartum depression and schizophrenia, but defense and prosecution witnesses disagreed over how severe her illness was and if it stopped her from knowing right and wrong.
Ultimately the jury decided against the death penalty, but also rejected the insanity argument from the defense.
KEY TESTIMONY: PETER DIETZ
Psychiatrist Peter Dietz testified that Yates knew the murders were wrong.
He based that conclusion in part on her belief that Satan, not God, had ordered the murders.
Dietz also testified that Yates' attempts to hide her murder plans indicated she knew they were wrong.
But Dietz incorrectly testified that an episode of "Law & Order" dealing with postpartum depression aired just before the killings. He said the episode portrayed a woman who drowned her children and was later found insane. Officials determined later that such an episode doesn't exist.
Prosecutors admit the mistake, but say it was unintentional.
APPEAL
On April 30, 2004, Yates' attorney appealed her capital murder convictions.
The appeal questioned the testimony of prosecution expert Peter Dietz. (see above)
The appeal also challenged the constitutionality of Texas' insanity law.
HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Shortly before the killings, Yates had been at a League City hospital.
At that point, she had struggled with postpartum depression for two years.
Two weeks after being released from the hospital, Yates killed her five children.
An assistant district attorney, who helped prosecute the case, has said more treatment probably would have prevented her from drowning the children.
In 2003, she was placed on suicide watch while in prison.
At the time, her lawyer said Yates believed her dead children were in purgatory and only her death would free them.
In July, 2004, Yates was hospitalized after refusing to eat.
At the time, the five-foot-seven woman weighed about 107 pounds.
RUSSELL YATES
Filed for divorce from Andrea in August 2004.
Works at the Johnson Space Center.
In May he sold the three-bedroom house where the children were killed for $109,900.
Slideshow: Images From Multiple Murder Case 
