Killer mom could get new trial

2005-11-10 10:50

Chicago - A Texas housewife convicted of drowning her five children in the family bathtub could get a new trial after the state's appeals court refused to review a lower court's decision to reverse her conviction.

Andrea Pia Yates had her conviction overturned earlier this year because a prosecution witness testified that Yates could have been influenced by an episode of the popular crime show Law and Order.

The witness, a forensic psychiatrist, falsely described an episode in which a woman used an insanity plea to avoid being convicted for drowning her children and said it aired shortly before Yates killed her children.

In closing arguments, the prosecution suggested Yates got the idea from the show even though that episode did not exist.

False testimony

Yates' lawyers argued that the false testimony wrongly influenced the jury, which judged in 2002 that despite an acknowledgement of her mental illness by both the defence and prosecution, Yates knew the difference between right and wrong. She was sentenced to life in prison.

"The forensic psychiatrist testified falsely during the guilt or innocence phase," Yates' attorney George Parnham told CNN. "That testimony was used in arguing to a jury that she was callous and cold."

Yates held her children under water in the family bathtub until they ceased struggling just weeks after emerging from the last of four hospital stays for severe depression, two of which came after she attempted suicide.

Case might be retried

Psychiatric experts for both the prosecution and defence testified Yates drowned her children one by one to save them from the fires of hell.

The case shocked the nation and highlighted the dangers of untreated mental illness.

Assistant district attorney Alan Curry said his office will most likely chose to retry the case, although they would also consider a plea agreement.

"We still believe Andrea Yates knew her conduct was wrong," he said. "We're still responsible for the lives of five children whose lives were taken by a crime."

Curry said he does not believe the jury was unduly influenced by the false testimony and expects a second jury would also find Yates guilty of murder.

- AFP