Name: Anonymous 2006-07-28 1:17
Mom not guilty by insanity in 5 kids' drowning deaths
HOUSTON (AP) - In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her five children in a bathtub.
The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.
Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read, then bowed her head and wept quietly. The children's father, Rusty Yates, who divorced his wife last year, muttered, ``Wow!'' as he, too, cried.
Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving the souls of her five children -- ages 6 months to 7 years old -- by killing them. That conviction had been overturned.
Outside the courthouse Wednesday, Rusty Yates said, ``The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened. Yes, she was psychotic. That's the whole truth.''
Note to self, Blame the devil and your home free.
HOUSTON (AP) - In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her five children in a bathtub.
The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.
Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read, then bowed her head and wept quietly. The children's father, Rusty Yates, who divorced his wife last year, muttered, ``Wow!'' as he, too, cried.
Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving the souls of her five children -- ages 6 months to 7 years old -- by killing them. That conviction had been overturned.
Outside the courthouse Wednesday, Rusty Yates said, ``The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened. Yes, she was psychotic. That's the whole truth.''
Note to self, Blame the devil and your home free.