Jury finds woman who drowned her five children not guilty
An American woman who drowned her five young children in the bathtub during a bout of postnatal depression has been found not guilty after jurors accepted her lawyers' argument that she was insane at the time of the incident.
Andrea Yates, 42, will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released. If she had been convicted of murder she would have faced life in prison.
Yates's lawyers did not deny that she drowned six-month-old Mary, two-year-old Luke, Paul, three, John, five, and Noah, seven, in their home near Houston in June 2001. But they said she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, believed Satan was inside her. She was trying to save them from hell.
Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read. She then bowed her head and wept quietly.
The jury deliberated for three days before finding Yates not guilty by reason of insanity. The jurors had not been told she would be committed to a mental institution for treatment if found not guilty.
Prosecutors had maintained Yates failed to meet the state's definition of insanity: having a severe enough mental illness to prevent someone knowing that the crime is wrong.