New trial for Andrea Yates will test attitudes on mental illness

HOUSTON (AP) — Since Andrea Yates first stood trial on charges of drowning three of her five children, the facts of the case haven't changed. What her defense teams hopes has changed is the public's view of mentally ill defendants.

Since Yates' 2002 conviction, which was overturned on appeal, several other Texas mothers have killed their children and been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Those verdicts — as well as community outreach and education efforts about mental illness — are encouraging to Yates' attorneys and advocates, who say her severe postpartum psychosis prevented her from knowing her action was wrong.

"More people know it's a brain disorder and not just something you can snap out of," said Betsy Schwartz, director of the Mental Health Association of Greater Houston. "We can only hope the jury will have a keen awareness of the chemistry and physiology of what was going on in Andrea Yates' brain when this happened."

Yates' retrial was to begin Monday with opening statements. As in her first trial, she has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If the jury agrees, she could be committed to a state hospital, with periodic hearings to determine whether she should be released. A guilty verdict would mean life in prison.

A prosecutor in the case said the jury must consider only the evidence presented in this case — not get caught up in public sentiment or try to send a message about mental health issues.

"This is not cookie-cutter justice," prosecutor Kaylynn Williford said. "I believe in the insanity defense, in which someone can commit a crime and not be held criminally responsible. I do not see that in this case based on the evidence."

Prosecutors say they will again call Dr. Park Dietz, the psychiatrist who testified that Yates knew her actions were wrong. Dietz, also a consultant to the "Law & Order" television series, told jurors that one episode depicting a woman who drowned her kids in a bathtub — and was acquitted by reason of insanity — aired before the Yates children died.

Attorneys learned after Yates was convicted — but before jurors sentenced her to life in prison — that no such episode existed. That mistake caused an appeals court in Houston last year to overturn Yates' conviction.

Prosecutors say Yates planned the murders during the small window of time when she'd be home alone with the youngsters on June 20, 2001, after her husband went to work and before her mother-in-law arrived. Then she called her husband and 911 and later confessed, prosecutors say.