- September 22 

Mom in Texas Child Drownings Found Fit for Trial

By C. Bryson Hull

 HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas mother accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub is mentally fit to stand trial on murder charges, a Houston jury decided on Saturday, ruling she was capable of helping defense lawyers fight the death penalty case against her.

 The 11-woman, one-man jury reached its decision about the mental competency of Andrea Yates after hearing three days of testimony from mental health experts and deliberating for eight hours on Friday and Saturday.

 The panel was asked to decide if Yates, 37, understood the proceedings against her and was able to assist her lawyers.

 The jury's decision means Yates must now face a capital murder trial. She has been charged in only two of the five drownings. If convicted, she could face the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

 Yates stood silently and did not react as State District Judge Belinda Hill read the jury's verdict. Her husband, Russell Yates, a NASA (news - web sites) computer engineer, dropped his head into his hands, shaking it slowly as his face flushed.

 Jurors embraced the prosecution's argument that Yates' mental health had improved significantly since she was jailed on June 20. Testimony during the hearing showed she arrived at the jail in near catatonia, but had improved steadily since.

 The panel rejected the defense's argument that Yates was still too mentally fragile to bear the strain of a trial.

 ``At least that issue is decided. Now it's time to get prepared to defend her in the trial,'' defense attorney George Parnham said.

 Asked about the verdict, he said, ``It would be impossible to relate to you our feelings.''

 Prosecutors Kaylynn Williford and Joe Owmby had no comment.

INSANITY DEFENSE IS NEXT PHASE

Yates already has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges against her. She allegedly drowned her five children, age 6 months to 7 years, in a bathtub at their Houston home on June 20. She then called police and her husband, who supports her, to confess what she had done, police say.

 Yates' attorneys say she suffered a psychotic form of severe postpartum depression that began after the birth of her fourth child and worsened after her fifth.

 Parnham and co-counsel Wendell Odom will make that contention the centerpiece of the second phase of their mental health defense: that Yates was legally insane at the time of the killings.

 Under Texas law, defendants are not guilty by reason if insanity if they had a severe mental defect that prevented them from discerning right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.

 If the defense persuades a jury of that, Yates will be committed to a state mental hospital. If not, she faces the possibility of being sent to the Texas death chamber, the nation's busiest.

 The judge has not set a trial date yet. In the meantime, Yates will remain in the psychiatric wing of the Harris County Jail, where she has been receiving treatment since the killings.