Andrea yates why

Yates knew right from wrong that morning, prosecutors say, and therefore, by Texas law, should not be found legally insane. Yates, 41, sat quietly at the defense table staring at her hands as Williford described how she called her children one by one into the bathroom to kill them. She later told investigators the boy asked, "What's wrong with Mary? Williford told jurors that all the children showed bruises and signs that they had struggled, even the infant girl. Andrea Yates' own mother was also in court, but sat at the other end of the row and did not speak to her former son-in law.

As witnesses for the defense, they were ordered by the judge to leave the courtroom and will not be allowed back until they testify. Andrea Yates was found guilty on March 12, , of the capital murder of three of her five children by a jury that deliberated just under four hours. Prosecutors did not bring charges for the deaths of Paul and Luke. Full coverage. But Yates' conviction was overturned by an appeals court because a prosecution witness, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, testified about an episode of "Law and Order" in which a woman is acquitted of drowning her children by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors suggested to the first jury that the episode gave Yates the idea of how to get away with murder. After the verdict was reached, attorneys discovered that no such episode existed. Her conviction was overturned in January Jurors in Yates' first trial rejected the death penalty, saving her from a potential death sentence in the second trial. If she is found guilty, she faces life in prison. If jurors find her not guilty by reason of insanity, Yates will be sent to a psychiatric hospital and her case will be monitored by the court, which will determine when she could be released.

Jurors also listened Monday to Yates' phone call, placed minutes after she drowned her last child. During the brief recorded conversation, Yates sounds calm, asks for an officer to come to the house, and tells the dispatcher that, no, her husband is not home. But Yates' breathing is heavy, and she sounds disoriented when the operator repeatedly asks her why she needs police. Yates, now 51, was convicted of capital murder for the high-profile killings of her four sons and baby daughter.

She was sentenced to life in prison, but her conviction was overturned on appeal. She was found not guilty in by reason of insanity and was sent to a Texas mental hospital, where she remains today.

Yates suffered from depression and had tried to commit suicide at least once before she systematically drowned all of her children on June 20, They ranged in age between 6 months to 7 years old. Her attorneys said the murders were brought on by psychotic delusions, exacerbated by repeated episodes of postpartum depression, TIME previously reported in a lengthy investigation in Through sermons, videos and personal telephone calls, the Woronieckis condemned the Yates' for their hypocritical Christian lifestyle, saying their children were doomed to hell because of their parents sins.

The Woronieckis also preached that married couples should have as many children as possible. In , Yates was treated for postpartum depression and psychosis, illnesses that ran in her family. After the birth of her fifth child and the death of her father, she went into a severe depression and was forcefully admitted to Devereux-Texas Treatment Network.

There, Dr. Mohammed Saeed prescribed a series of psychotropic drug treatments. He also abruptly tapered off the antipsychotic Haldol, a medication that helped Andrea recover in On June 20, , during the hour between her husband leaving for work and her mother-in-law arriving, Andrea Yates drowned all five of her children in the bathtub.

Throughout the trial, Rusty stood by his wife, claiming it was the illness and not Yates that had killed the children. She pleaded innocence by reason of insanity citing postpartum psychosis. In March , a jury rejected the insanity defense and found Yates guilty of capital murder, sentencing her to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 40 years.