Mom faces jury for drowning deaths

HOUSTON -- A lawyer for Andrea Yates said Monday that the Houston mother was suffering from postpartum depression and severe psychosis when she drowned her five children, "the cruelest and most severe of mental illnesses." \nGeorge Parnham told the jury in opening statements that Yates' mental illness kept her from knowing right from wrong. \n"It takes the very nature and essence of motherhood -- to nurture, to protect and to love -- and changes the reality," he said.\nThe 37-year-old woman faces two capital murder charges in the June 20 deaths of three of her five children, ranging in age from 7 years to 6 months. Defense attorneys say the former nurse turned stay-at-home mom is innocent by reason of insanity. \nProsecutor Joe Owmby told jurors Monday that under Texas law the defense must prove she is insane. \n"She is presumed to be sane, to know right from wrong," Owmby said. "The state bears no burden of proof to prove she was sane." \nLegal experts say the defense could face a difficult job during the trial, which is expected to last three weeks. \n"When you have a crime like this that is so heinous, I think the jurors' inclinations are likely going to be somewhat disinclined to find insanity," Baylor University law professor Brian Serr said. "The fact that she was feeling psychological or mental pressure to kill them does not mean she was in some sort of psychotic state or that she -- in a twisted fashion -- perceived it to be right. \n"The fact that she called the police right afterward and reported herself in essence really undermines the fact that she thought what she was doing was right." \nBefore jurors get to hear evidence about Yates mental state at the time of the drownings, they will hear the details of the case, including the 911 call Yates placed after she drowned the last child, Noah, 7, whose body was discovered face down in a bathtub half full of water. \nThey also will hear the confession Yates gave to police when they arrived at her door, how the officers found the youngest four children's wet bodies on a bed covered with a sheet, and a taped interview that followed her arrest. \nProsecutors also will likely point to testimony from Yates' competency hearing that she made the decision to drown her children the night before, and that after her husband left for work she drowned her children one at a time before her mother-in-law was to arrive. \n"All of this indicates this wasn't a spur of the moment act," trial consultant Stacy Schreiber said. "But again, it goes back to explaining the nature of mental illness and a person's fight to stay in control." \nYates' husband said she suffered from depression after the births of her two youngest children. Medical records detail her bouts with depression and show that she attempted suicide twice after the birth of her fourth child in 1999 and was warned by a doctor to carefully consider whether she should have any more children. \nThe doctor who gave that warning is scheduled to testify, along with other medical experts, police officers, detectives, friends and relatives. Among the experts on the case are two of the nation's top forensic psychiatrists, whose experience includes serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Unibomber Ted Kaczynski, and Susan Smith, who drowned her two children by rolling her car into a lake. \nOne of the capital murder charges is for the deaths of Noah and 5-year-old John. The other is for 6-month-old Mary. Texas law considers a murder a capital offense if more than one person is killed or if the victim is under age 6. \nCharges are pending in the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2. Texas prosecutors typically forgo multiple capital murder charges since only one conviction is generally needed for the maximum penalty. \nA person found innocent by reason of insanity in Texas may be committed to a mental institution, then face a series of hearings until the court releases the person from its jurisdiction, which can last as long as the jail time the defendant faced. If Yates is found guilty, jurors would have to determine whether to sentence her to life in prison, or to death. \nSerr believes jurors will opt for a punishment harsher than death -- life. \n"Given the nature of this crime, it might be a worse punishment for this woman to be locked up forever and to have to think day, after day, after day that she killed her children and they were perfectly aware of who had become their enemy"