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'Heart attack of the mind' drove Yates, defense says
Posted by: Admin
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HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub one by one -- concealing her deed from the other children so they wouldn't try to run away or call for help,a prosecutor said during closing arguments Monday at her second murder trial.
Her actions show she knew what she was doing was wrong, prosecutor Joe Owmby said.
"Even at 7 years old, Noah knew it was wrong -- 7 years old," Owmby told jurors.
He urged jurors to convict Yates of capital murder, rejecting her plea of innocent by reason of insanity.
He urged them not to let sympathy sway them when they begin deliberations, after lawyers on both sides finish their closing arguments.
Although Yates may be mentally ill, Owmby said, she fails to meet the state's definition of insanity: that a severe mental illness prevents someone who is committing a crime from knowing it is wrong.
Owmby said Yates behaved normally with her husband, Rusty, the morning she drowned the youngsters so he would not suspect her plan to kill them after he left for work.
After the drownings, she called police and asked when her trial would be, further evidence that she knew her conduct was wrong, he said.
"Andrea Yates is guilty because under the law of the state at the time she drowned her children, she knew it was wrong and she was aware of the consequences of her actions," Owmby said.
Defense attorney Wendell Odom said Yates was in a delusional state when she killed 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah in June 2001.
He said Yates thought the children were flawed because she was a bad mother and that she had to kill them to save them from Hell.
He noted Yates's extensive history of mental illness, including four hospitalizations since 1999 and two suicide attempts. He compared her case to someone having a heart attack while driving and hitting someone with a car. He said that person would not be charged with murder.
"Andrea Yates had a heart attack. It was a heart attack of the mind," Odom said.
"The only reason we're here is there are five dead bodies, five precious children that have been killed," he added. "We want our pound of flesh. We want our accountability. We want someone to be punished."
Yates, 42, was convicted of capital murder in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. But an appeals court overturned that verdict because some erroneous testimony may have influenced jurors. Yates is charged in only three of her five children's deaths.
Odom said he was not asking them to acquit her, where she "walks out the door." He urged jurors to find Yates innocent by reason of insanity.
Odom was not permitted to tell jurors that if found innocent by reason of insanity, Yates would be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released.
Yates will be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of capital murder.
A capital murder conviction in Texas carries either life in prison or the death penalty. Prosecutors could not seek death this time because the first trial's jurors sentenced her to life in prison, and authorities found no new evidence.
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