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CNN Live At Daybreak

Andrea Yates Faces Possible Death Penalty with Guilty Verdict

Aired March 13, 2002 - 05:16   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: In Houston, Texas, the question now facing eight female and four male jurors is this -- should Andrea Yates spend the rest of her life in prison or should she be put to death? Yesterday, Yates was found guilty and not insane when she drowned her five children last summer.

Our Gary Tuchman tells us the trial now moves to the sentencing phase.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Yates, please stand.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The verdict came after only three hours, 40 minutes of deliberations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "In cause number 880205, 'The State of Texas vs. Andrea Pia Yates,' we the jury find the defendant, Andrea Pia Yates, guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment,'' signed by the foreperson.

TUCHMAN: Thirty-seven-year-old Andrea Yates, with a history of severe mental problems, now faces the possibility of the death penalty. Her husband Russell, who has supported her, put his head in his hands and said, oh God. Her mother just stared straight ahead. And the convicted murderer's cheek quivered.

QUESTION: What was Andrea's reaction to this?

GEORGE PARNHAM, ANDREA YATES' ATTORNEY: Not good, as you can imagine. Very upset. Very upset.

TUCHMAN: The defense told the jury Yates was trying to protect her children from spending eternity in hell. Her attorney said she was legally insane under Texas law because she did not know the difference between right and wrong.

PARNHAM: If this woman doesn't meet the test of insanity in this state, then nobody does.

KAYLYNN WILLIFORD, PROSECUTOR: Maybe she wanted to punish Rusty.

TUCHMAN: But prosecutors said she knew what she did was wrong and may have wanted to get back at a domineering husband. WILLIFORD: She had a plan and it was to take these children's lives. Not to take her own life. She didn't want to do that because if this was to punish her husband because of what she, the circumstances she had been put in, which is a possibility -- we don't know for sure her motive -- to kill herself, she would still have the children -- he would still have the children. She would just be gone.

TUCHMAN: The eight women and four men in the jury have been sequestered and will stay that way because starting Thursday, they will begin deciding in the penalty phase, whether Andrea Yates should get life in prison or be executed.

PARNHAM: I think mental illness is just still obviously not understood, not appreciated. And I hope that we'll be able to save her life.

TUCHMAN: Russell Yates visited his wife in jail following the verdict.

RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: As I said earlier, I don't really want to talk right now.

TUCHMAN: If she does not receive the death penalty, she would not be eligible for parole until she is 77 years old.

(on camera): For Andrea Yates to receive a sentence of death by lethal injection, all 12 jurors must agree during the penalty phase. Anything less than 12, she gets life.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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