A jury today found Texas mother Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity in the drownings of her five children, ages 6 months to 7 years, in the bathtub of their Houston home five years ago.
The decision means Ms Yates (42) will go to a state mental hospital for treatment until a judge decides she is sane enough to be released, a process which could take years.
Ms Yates, who is being treated with anti-psychotic drugs, looked stunned and tears welled up in her eyes when the verdict was read.
She was found guilty in a 2002 trial and sentenced to life in prison for the crime but had to retried because the conviction was overturned due to flawed testimony.
The jury of six men and six women began deliberations on Monday and reaching their verdict this morning.
Ms Yates had a history of mental illness and suicide attempts when, on June 20, 2001, she drowned Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, six months, one by one in the family bathtub while husband Rusty Yates was at his job at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Witnesses for the defense said Ms Yates suffered from a delusion induced by postpartum psychosis that drowning the children would spare them from damnation.
Prosecutors agreed that Ms Yates was sick but said she was sane enough to know killing the children was wrong.
The case became a cause celebre for women's groups and mental health advocates, who said postpartum depression was inadequately treated in many cases.
In the first trial, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Ms Yates, a former nurse and high school valedictorian, but the jury gave her a life sentence.
Ms Yates was in prison most of the past four years before her conviction was overturned on appeal because the prosecution's star witness had given false testimony.
That witness, forensic psychologist Park Dietz, testified again in this case.
Ms Yates was being tried for the murder of only three of her children, but it was not known if prosecutors would now seek a trial on the murder charges for the other two.