US: A Houston jury yesterday heard opening statements from lawyers in the trial of the woman who drowned her five children last June in the family bath.
Ms Andrea Yates has been in custody since the deaths of Noah (7); John (5); Paul (3); Luke (2); and six-month-old Mary, on June 20th, 2001. Ms Yates (37), who claims she was suffering from post-partum psychosis, faces two murder charges in a trial which is likely to cast a searching light on the death penalty in Texas. A jury has already decided Ms Yates is sane enough to understand the charges and assist in her own defence.
However, her lawyers believe they can convince the jury that she did not know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the killings.
They will argue that Ms Yates, who had twice attempted to commit suicide, should never have been released from a psychiatric hospital a month before the killings. Ms Yates, who with her husband educated the children at home, and by all accounts loved them deeply, has spoken since the killings of her overwhelming sense of inadequacy as a mother and her desire to send them to God. "We know that drowning children is wrong," her defence lawyer, Mr George Parnham said during jury selection. "Objectively, we could all sit here and say those actions are wrong, but you're going to be asked to view those actions through her eyes."
"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," said Dr Brian Serr, a law professor at Baylor University.
"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," Dr Serr added.