ANDREA PIA YATES EVITA BOIA, CONDANNATA ERGASTOLO POLEMICHE A HOUSTON PER PROCURATORI TROPPO 'MORBIDI'

NEW YORK, 15 MAR - La giustizia del Texas, lo stato con il record di esecuzioni negli Usa, ha scelto di risparmiare la vita di Andrea Yates. La madre-killer di Houston che il 20 giugno 2001 uccise i cinque figli, affogandoli nella vasca da bagno, non andra' ad aggiungersi alle altre otto donne in attesa del boia nel braccio della morte texano.

   La Yates e' stata condannata all'ergastolo dalla stessa giuria popolare che non aveva avuto dubbi nei giorni scorsi nel pronunciarsi sulla sua colpevolezza. Sono bastati 35 minuti di camera di consiglio ai giurati (otto donne e quattro uomini) per troarsi d'accordo nel rispondere 'no' al quesito che era stato loro posto sul fatto se la donna avrebbe potuto rappresentare un pericolo per la societa' restando in vita: a questo punto e' scattato automaticamente l'ergastolo.

   Invece di raggiungere l'unanimita' nel decidere per l' iniezione letale, come chiede la legge, i giurati si sono trovati d'accordo nel decidere che per una madre sara' una pena adeguata passare i prossimi decenni a riflettere sul proprio gesto. La condanna prevede che Andrea Yates non possa chiedere la liberta' condizionale per 40 anni.

   La sentenza che ha salvato la vita alla donna e' stata anche l'effetto di una scelta dell'accusa di non chiedere con la massima enfasi la pena capitale. ''Questi bambini non hanno mai avuto una possibilita' e dovete pensare a loro nel decidere'', ha detto il procuratore Kaylynn Williford ai giurati, prima che si ritirassero in camera di consiglio, mostrando loro le foto di Noah, John, Paul, Luke e Mary, i cinque bambini di eta' comprese tra i sei mesi e i 7 anni morti il 20 giugno 2001.

   Ma prima di concludere, la procuratrice ha lasciato cadere una frase che e' gia' oggetto di critiche a Houston tra i sostenitori della pena di morte: ''Qualunque decisione prenderete, lo stato la accettera'''. Qualcuno l'ha letto come un invito a scegliere l' ergastolo e i procuratori si sono trovati a difendersi da domande aggressive da parte della stampa non appena hanno lasciato l'aula dopo la sentenza. ''Rispettiamo il verdetto'', ha detto il procuratore Joseph Owmby, mentre la collega Williford ha detto di ritenere di aver chiesto con sufficiente insistenza la pena di morte, ma di non essere delusa dalla scelta dell'ergastolo.

      La contea di Harris, dove si e' celebrato il processo, e' una delle piu' severe degli Usa e con il maggior numero di sostenitori della pena capitale. Ma la giuria sembra aver raccolto le volonta' anche del resto degli americani: secondo un sondaggio di 'Time', pubblicato poco prima della sentenza, il 56% di loro voleva l'ergastolo e solo il 33% l'esecuzione per

Andrea Yates.

      In aula, la mamma-killer ha accolto la sentenza in piedi tra i suoi avvocati, impassibile, accennando solo ad un impercettibile sorriso e un cenno di assenso quando uno dei legali le ha chiesto se aveva capito il verdetto. Il marito Russel Yates, che in questi mesi e' rimasto molto vicino alla donna, ha mormorato un sommesso 'yes'.

      Il processo si e' concentrato sulle condizioni mentali di Andrea Yates e sulla sua capacita' di rendersi conto di quello che stava facendo quando uccise. La giuria ha ritenuto che fosse consapevole, ma ha deciso che in questa vicenda Houston ha gia' visto abbastanza morti, chiudendo la porta in faccia al boia.

TEXAS: Jury sentences Yates to life in prison

A jury spared the life of Andrea Yates, sentencing the mentally ill Houston mother to life in prison Friday for drowning her 5 children in their bathtub.

 Jurors made their decision, rejecting the death penalty, after about 40 minutes of deliberations.

 Yates stood while the verdict was read, her attorney's arm around her. Her attorneys smiled. There was no apparent reaction from her.

 The life term means Yates, 37, must serve at least 40 years behind bars before she becomes eligible for parole.

 Yates' husband, Russell, had no reaction in the courtroom. His brother, Randy Yates, nodded affirmatively. Andrea Yates' sister, sitting across the courtroom, wiped tears from her eyes as she leaned forward.

 As Andrea Yates was led from the courtroom by officers, she looked back toward her mother and siblings.

 The same Harris County jury Tuesday deliberated less than four hours Tuesday before finding Yates guilty of holding her children under water in their own bathtub until they stopped breathing last June 20.

 With that verdict, jurors rejected defense claims that Yates was insane when the 5 children were drowned.

 Defense attorneys earlier Friday had pleaded with jurors to give her a life term.

 In their summation, prosecutors reminded the jury in of the horrific crime but said they could accept whatever decision the jury made.

 In the punishment phase of Yates' 4-week trial, jurors had 2 questions to answer: Did she pose a future danger to society? And were there mitigating circumstances to sentence her to life as opposed to death?

 A death sentence required jurors to be unanimous in their vote that she was a future danger and that there were no mitigating circumstances. Any vote less than unanimous meant a life sentence.

 In closing arguements, the prosecutors gave a jury Friday reasons to send Andrea Yates to death row for drowning her children in their bathtub but said they could accept a life prison term.

 "Those children never had a chance and you need to think about those children," district attorney Kaylynn Williford said in closing arguments during the punishment phase of the mentally ill woman's capital murder trial. "Mankind has been disturbed about taking their lives.

 "You need to think about the pain and fear and terror they went through when they died... You have lived through and suffered through the evidence of the deaths of those children. You have a unique perspective that no one else has. Whatever decision you make, the state will accept."

 Defense attorneys pleaded with jurors who convicted her Tuesday that they instead choose life in prison for Yates.

 "She is not a danger to society," Yates' lawyer Wendell Odom said. "She does not have a criminal's mind, not an inherently evil person.

 "She did this as an act of love and that mitigates against killing. It mitigates against the death penalty."

 Jurors, who were to begin deliberating Friday afternoon, began hearing evidence Thursday about whether Yates is a future danger and if there is mitigating evidence to keep her from dying by lethal injection, the 2 questions they must answer under Texas law in the punishment phase.

 Prosecutors offered no punishment phase evidence or testimony, a point made by defense attorneys during their summations.

 "The state brings you no professional, no expert to tell you this woman is a future danger," Odom said.

 Williford, however, without specifically urging a death sentence, told jurors they had sufficient evidence to answer the questions that would result in a death sentence.

 In testimony yesterday, Jutta Karin Kennedy, begged jurors Thursday to have mercy on her daughter, convicted of capital murder for drowning 3 of her 5 children.

 "I am here pleading for her life," Kennedy, 73, said through tears.

 Testimony resumes today in the sentencing phase of the trial of the 37-year-old former nurse. She was convicted Tuesday.

 Thursday's proceedings ended at 1:30 p.m. because of "a matter beyond the court's control" and unrelated to the case, state District Judge Belinda Hill said. She offered no further explanation.

 Testimony is expected to end before noon today, Hill said.

 Prosecutors said they will not offer evidence during this phase and did not question any of the 11 defense witnesses Thursday.

 The only testimony will come from Yates' supporters, asking jurors to spare her life.

 Jurors may give Yates a life sentence, with parole possible after 40 years, or may condemn her to death by injection.

 The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for 3 1/2 hours before rejecting her defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. They had listened to nearly 3 weeks of testimony, largely about her severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, postpartum psychosis and severe depression. She attempted suicide twice, doctors testified.

 On June 20, Yates waited until her husband, Russell, left for his job at NASA before filling the bathtub. Then she methodically drowned Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and Mary, 6 months.

 Relatives said Yates often talked to her children about God and the Bible. After the drownings, Yates told authorities that she had killed the children because she wanted to save them from burning in hell and that she should be executed because Satan was living in her body.

 Before they can impose the death sentence, jurors must decide unanimously that she remains a threat to society and that no mitigating circumstances should cause her life to be spared.

 Defense attorneys Wendell Odom and George Parnham sped through the testimony in fewer than 2 hours, attempting to show that the only way Yates would become psychotic again is if she has another child or goes off medication. She could do neither in prison.

"Her life is over one way or the other," Parnham told jurors.

 Psychiatrist Lucy Puryear, who treated Yates after the drownings, told jurors that the former nurse met neither criteria for lethal injection.

 "Her symptoms were caused by the birth of her children," she said. "I believe that if she has no further children and stays on medication, her symptoms and her illness will be under control."

 Puryear, who earlier told jurors Yates was insane at the time of the killings, expressed shock and disbelief at their verdict and said Thursday that people still "obviously do not understand mental illnesss."

 Parnham asked witnesses whether they believed Yates was a loving mother. They all answered yes, most passionately her husband, who has outspokenly supported his wife.

 "I remember little Paul would come in with a bruise or a bump, a 'boo-boo,' " Russell Yates said on the stand, chuckling through his tears. "And Andrea would put a Band-Aid on him when it wasn't even a cut."

 Parnham also asked whether Yates had been violent in the past or had a history of breaking the law. All witnesses said no.

 Prosecutor Joe Owmby remained passive, making only brief conversational remarks to an occasional witness and asking no questions. Hill denied Odom's request to immediately sentence Yates to life in the absence of state evidence.

 Owmby would not say whether the district attorney's office was backing off its initial call for the death penalty, saying only that the option is still included in the jury instructions that are to be read today.

 Harris County prosecutors are not reluctant to pursue the death penalty and haven't spared women.

 Of the eight women now on death row, four are from Harris County. One of them, there since 1988, killed her 2 children. 2 other women, including Darlie Routier of Rowlett, were condemned for killing children.

 On Thursday, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a mental-health advocacy group, filed complaints against 3 psychiatrists who treated Yates in the years before she killed the children. The complaints were filed with the State Board of Medical Examiners and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 Only days before the killings, a doctor had told Yates she could stop taking the anti-psychotic medication Haldol, according to testimony.

 The group's president, Jerry Boswell, said that the doctors' treatment of Yates was haphazard and that she was medicated in levels up to twice the maximum recommendation - causing her psychosis to deepen and ultimately resulting in the children's deaths.

 "She didn't get treatment," Boswell said outside the courthouse Thursday. "She got betrayed."

 The psychiatrists were Drs. Eileen Starbranch, James Flack and Mohammed Saeed. They could not be reached to comment Thursday.