Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
RyanH
New member
It looked like the state of Texas was ready to put a mentally ill patient to death, but now good news is emerging, and consequently, Mrs. Yates, the woman accused of drowning her 5 children will get help instead of the chamber. The following is the latest in our crusade to finally understand the issues so many women in our nation face......Ryan.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas prosecutors hinted Tuesday they may stop pursuing the death penalty against a Houston mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub, if she accepts responsibility for the killings.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Joe Owmby said prosecutors may yet change their decision to let a jury decide whether Andrea Yates, 37, should be sentenced to death for drowning her five children, aged six months to 7 years.
"Even at this stage, for example, the defendant could choose to accept criminal responsibility, which would be an additional mitigating factor and would, I believe, very likely call the state to recommend a life sentence," Owmby said during a hearing on a defense motion.
Yates has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two counts of capital murder. Her lawyers argue a psychotic form of postpartum depression that cropped up after her fourth pregnancy and worsened after her fifth caused Yates to drown her children on July 20.
Owmby said prosecutors could not determine if there were enough mitigating factors to justify a life sentence for the former nurse and homemaker, so they opted to leave it in a jury's hands.
Under Texas law, jurors must consider if there are sufficient mitigating factors that would preclude sentencing a defendant to death. That is the second of two questions jurors consider during the penalty phase of a capital murder trial.
The first asks if the defendant presents a future danger to society, and an affirmative answer leads jurors to the second. If the panel decides there are enough mitigating factors, then the result is a life sentence.
Two members of the jury of 12 and two alternates who may have to consider those questions were chosen on Tuesday. Both are married women with psychology degrees; one has a three-year-old child.
An initial pool of 60 candidates was called on Monday, and as of Tuesday, 13 were stricken and eight were released by agreement. The process is expected to last four weeks.
Before juror questioning, State District Judge Belinda Hill denied a defense motion asking for equal time to respond in the media to comments Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal made to the CBS TV program "60 Minutes."
Hill imposed a gag order that precludes trial participants from talking to the media. Rosenthal's interview and one given by Yates' husband Russell to "60 Minutes" are the subject of an investigation by a special prosecutor.
She did allow Yates lawyer George Parnham to read into the record an earlier motion outlining their plans to focus on Yates' mental illness in their defense.
"But for the psychosis, she would never have considered, much less acted upon, any thought to take the lives of the children she bore into this world and dearly loved as their mother," Parnham read from the motion.
Texas law allows that a defendant can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if they had a severe mental defect that prevented them from discerning right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.
Of the two capital murder counts against Yates, one charges her with drowning sons Noah, 7, and John, 5, while the other charges her with drowning 6-month-old daughter Mary.
Prosecutors opted not to indict her in the deaths of sons Luke, 2, and Paul, 3. One indictment meets the requirements for a Texas capital murder charge because it alleges two killings during the same episode, while the other alleges the killing of a child under the age of 6.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas prosecutors hinted Tuesday they may stop pursuing the death penalty against a Houston mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub, if she accepts responsibility for the killings.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Joe Owmby said prosecutors may yet change their decision to let a jury decide whether Andrea Yates, 37, should be sentenced to death for drowning her five children, aged six months to 7 years.
"Even at this stage, for example, the defendant could choose to accept criminal responsibility, which would be an additional mitigating factor and would, I believe, very likely call the state to recommend a life sentence," Owmby said during a hearing on a defense motion.
Yates has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two counts of capital murder. Her lawyers argue a psychotic form of postpartum depression that cropped up after her fourth pregnancy and worsened after her fifth caused Yates to drown her children on July 20.
Owmby said prosecutors could not determine if there were enough mitigating factors to justify a life sentence for the former nurse and homemaker, so they opted to leave it in a jury's hands.
Under Texas law, jurors must consider if there are sufficient mitigating factors that would preclude sentencing a defendant to death. That is the second of two questions jurors consider during the penalty phase of a capital murder trial.
The first asks if the defendant presents a future danger to society, and an affirmative answer leads jurors to the second. If the panel decides there are enough mitigating factors, then the result is a life sentence.
Two members of the jury of 12 and two alternates who may have to consider those questions were chosen on Tuesday. Both are married women with psychology degrees; one has a three-year-old child.
An initial pool of 60 candidates was called on Monday, and as of Tuesday, 13 were stricken and eight were released by agreement. The process is expected to last four weeks.
Before juror questioning, State District Judge Belinda Hill denied a defense motion asking for equal time to respond in the media to comments Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal made to the CBS TV program "60 Minutes."
Hill imposed a gag order that precludes trial participants from talking to the media. Rosenthal's interview and one given by Yates' husband Russell to "60 Minutes" are the subject of an investigation by a special prosecutor.
She did allow Yates lawyer George Parnham to read into the record an earlier motion outlining their plans to focus on Yates' mental illness in their defense.
"But for the psychosis, she would never have considered, much less acted upon, any thought to take the lives of the children she bore into this world and dearly loved as their mother," Parnham read from the motion.
Texas law allows that a defendant can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if they had a severe mental defect that prevented them from discerning right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.
Of the two capital murder counts against Yates, one charges her with drowning sons Noah, 7, and John, 5, while the other charges her with drowning 6-month-old daughter Mary.
Prosecutors opted not to indict her in the deaths of sons Luke, 2, and Paul, 3. One indictment meets the requirements for a Texas capital murder charge because it alleges two killings during the same episode, while the other alleges the killing of a child under the age of 6.
