Friends and family are supporting Andrea Yates despite the fact that she confessed to murdering her five children.

A depressed Yates told police she drowned her five children in the bathtub June 20.

"Right away, I thought this woman was sick," a neighbor said. "I did not accuse her of murder. I didn't."

Support for Yates, 36, who is charged with capital murder, is growing as fast as the mound of empathetic cards, bears and balloons outside the Yates' home in Clear Lake.

While trying to deal with the death of his five children, Russell Yates wants help for his wife.

"She is really suffering," Russell Yates said at a candelight vigil. "(I) just ask (everyone) to say a prayer for her because she needs it."

Russell Yates hired a high-profile attorney to defend his wife in a potential death penalty case Friday afternoon.

Bob Parnham, a well-known local defense lawyer, was retained by Yates' husband to represent his wife.

Parnham, Russell Yates and other family members met with Andrea Yates Friday to discuss the case.

Russell Yates visited his wife in jail on Friday. During a candlelight vigil later that evening, he asked people to pray for her.

"That will help a lot. She's suffering," he said tearfully.

Yates is accused of drowning each one of her five children: 6-month-old Mary; Luke, 2; Paul , 3; John, 5; and Noah, 7.

She has been charged with capital murder in the drownings of two of her five children, Noah and John.

"Noah loved the color purple and butterflies," family friend Terry Edgington said. "John loved trucks and lady bugs, and his shoe laces were always untied. Luke, he was always smiling and good-natured. Mary was just so treasured."

Parnham will discuss a legal strategy to defend Yates, but only after all of the children are laid to rest.

The judge set Yates' arraignment for July 24.

Yates remains behind bars under a suicide watch in a mental health unit of the Harris County jail downtown.

Insanity Defense Likely

Andrea Yates, who is accused of killing her five children ages 6 months to 7 years old June 20, is expected to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

Yates, 36, told police Wednesday that she drowned her children one by one in a bathtub in their suburban Houston home. Dead are Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and Mary, 6 months.

Yates has been charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths of Noah and John. Authorities said other charges might follow.

Houston attorney George Parnham, who represents Yates, said that he has talked with psychiatrists treating her at the Harris County Jail.

"I've accumulated evidence in the last 24 hours that strongly suggests that the mental status of my client will be the issue, which means entering a not guilty plea by reason of insanity," Parnham said in Sunday editions of the Houston Chronicle.

He would not say what evidence indicated she was insane when she killed the children at her Clear Lake home. Parnham also declined to say anything about the current mental state of Yates.

George Dix, a law professor at the University of Texas, said that insanity defenses are rarely used, and those that are used rarely succeed. To be found innocent by reason of insanity, Andrea Yates would have to show that she was so mentally impaired that she couldn't see circumstances for what they were.

For example, if she "believed her children to be devils, she's entitled to acquittal," Dix told the Dallas Morning News in Sunday's editions.

"Homicide consists of causing the death of another person," Dix said. "If you believe the thing you destroyed was not a person, the verdict is your conduct wasn't criminal."

Three years ago in Houston a jury acquitted Evonne Rodriguez of capital murder in the beating and strangling death of her 4-month-old son. Rodriguez told authorities she thought her son was possessed by demons, so she threw his body in Buffalo Bayou.

A judge sent Rodriguez to a state mental hospital.

Parnham said that he is working with Russell Yates and her mother and brothers in an attempt "to get beyond the grief that obviously is the result of this tragedy."

Funeral Arrangements Made

The five children allegedly killed by their mother June 20 will be laid to rest Wednesday.

Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary will be laid to rest at 10:30 a.m. at the Clear Lake Church of Christ on Sea Lark and El Dorado.

A viewing will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church.

If you would like to help the family with burial costs, a memorial fund has been set up at Sterling Bank.

To donate money, send it to:

Yates Memorial Fund
Sterling Bank
P.O. Box 590027
Houston, TX 77259

You can also drop off donations at Clear Lake Flowers at 907 El Dorado or call (281) 286-0068.