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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Testimony Today in Yates Trial

Aired February 27, 2002 - 06:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Emotional testimony may emerge today from a Houston courtroom where Andrea Yates is on trial for drowning her children. Her husband, Russell, is expected to testify.

CNN' David Mattingly brings us up to date on the trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did Andrea Yates know right from wrong when she drowned her five children? For the first time since her capital murder trial began, expert testimony gave us one answer. Testifying for the defense, psychologist and physician George Ringholz said she did not know that the action she took that day were wrong. A statement that struck to the very core of defense attempts to prove Yates is not guilty by reason of insanity.

GEORGE PARNHAM, YATES' ATTORNEY: I think it went well. The -- mental condition history is long and tedious ...

MATTINGLY: Ringholz came to his conclusion after conducting an extensive battery of tests on Yates and finding her to be schizophrenic. Add this to nearly three days of testimony from mental health professionals at the Harris County jail, describing her as delusional and catatonic. The psychiatrist who called her one of the sickest patients she had ever seen, the nurse who called her zombie- like, and feared Yates would try to take her own life, the counselor who revealed Yates believed teddy bears were coming out of the jail cell walls -- a slow almost overwhelming tour by the defense into the depths of Yates' mental illness.

DAVID DEGUERRIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There's a point which the jurors have gotten too much, and they might be arriving at that point.

MATTINGLY: And expect more medical testimony on Wednesday as the defense is expected to conclude with its medical experts. It will then move on to family members, which include Andrea Yates' husband, Russell Yates.

David Mattingly, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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