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CNN Live Today
Jury Could Go Either Way in Yates' Sentencing
Aired March 15, 2002 - 10:41 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on now to Houston. Defense attorneys for Andrea Yates are calling their final witness to the stand in an attempt to spare her life. It is the same jury that returned a "guilty" verdict on Tuesday now must decide whether Yates should be executed for the methodical drowning of her five children.
Our Ed Lavandera has been following the case, and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mission for Andrea Yates' attorney is clear and simple.
GEORGE PARNHAM, YATES' DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We'll do everything we can to save her life.
LAVANDERA: About a dozen witnesses, including close friends, like Debbie Holmes...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To talk about my beautiful friend, my sweetie, Andrea.
LAVANDERA: ... have described Andrea Yates as a compassionate and loving woman who never showed signs of violence until she drowned her five children.
Russell Yates described his wife as the kindest and most compassionate person he knows. Andrea's mother asked the jury for mercy, saying -- quote -- "Andrea has been helping people all her life, and the two times she really needed help, it wasn't given long enough."
The jury showed little emotion as each family member and friend testified.
PARNHAM: We present what we have and, you know, if it's emotional, it's emotional, and that's the type of testimony that we have and that's what we presented.
LAVANDERA: The defense wants to show Yates as not a future threat to society. If the jury decides she is not, then the 37-year- old woman will go to prison for life, eligible for parole in 40 years. Prosecutors didn't put on any witnesses, a sign perhaps they aren't zealously pushing for a death sentence, but outside court, that's not the way prosecutors put it.
JOE OWMBY, PROSECUTOR: We offer the evidence during guilt and any capital murder trial bears on the punishment issues. So that's why we, as a formality, actually, we offer the evidence from a...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have made your case, in other words.
OWMBY: Well, I'm not commenting like that.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Prosecutors don't plan on staying silent. They will make closing arguments to the jury, and defense attorneys expect prosecutors to take a more aggressive tone when they remind the jury that Andrea Yates is the convicted murderer of her young children, and that the death penalty is still very much an option.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And now, let's get some legal perspective. For that, we bring in our former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne, joining us once again. Cynthia, good morning, good to have you with us.
CYNTHIA ALKSNE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
KAGAN: Want to pick up on that point from Ed's piece that we just saw. The prosecution, no opening statement, no witnesses, and virtually no questions for any of the 11 witnesses that were called by the defense. What's going on here?
ALKSNE: Right. Well, the DA has always said, it was going to be up to the jury to make a decision on the death penalty issue.
KAGAN: Is that a cop out?
ALKSNE: I don't think it is a cop out, I think it's fair. I think that the -- it is the reason why, in death penalty cases, we have a jury decide instead of a judge, or instead of anybody else, and the jury needs to reflect the feelings of the community, so I think it's a good thing. It will be interesting to see how heavy the prosecutors go, pro or neutral, on the death penalty in the summation period, and how long they actually take to sum up. We just don't know the answer to that.
KAGAN: I mean, with no opening statement, is it possible that they don't do any closing statement either, kind of like, we wish you well in figuring out the best thing, or do you think it will be more detailed than that?
ALKSNE: It is possible, but Ed Lavandera is saying that they will actually make a closing statement, and we'll just have to wait and see the tenor and the tone of it.
KAGAN: Let's look at this jury. You have some good insight when we were starting this trial. The eight women and four men. How does that play into the possibility of the death penalty?
ALKSNE: Well, I'm not sure about the eight women and four men. I think the most telling thing is that they returned the initial verdict in three and a half hours, and that was a shocking time period. They're not a jury who is going to spend a lot of time in angst about their decision. So, I would guess that we actually have a verdict today.
There was very interesting testimony, I thought, from the defense on this question of future dangerousness. You know, they put an expert on to say that they don't have conjugal visits in Texas.
KAGAN: Meaning she is probably not going to get pregnant.
ALKSNE: She is not going to get pregnant. Because that is really the question about future dangerousness from everything we know about her background is her postpartum depression and her danger to children.
So, they actually put an expert on that said she will not be having any more children, and were she to get pregnant in the prison, presumably by somebody else than her husband, that child would go immediately into foster care. So, they dealt, sort of, with that argument in a very interesting way.
KAGAN: And then, what about the character witnesses that the defense tried put on, her mother-in-law, saying that Andrea Yates was the most compassionate person she had ever met in her life?
ALKSNE: Well, everybody has witnesses like that in this type of a hearing. I really think the question will be the future dangerousness, as in terms of children, not so much in terms of her past life. Because, after all, in her past life, this jury has already found she is a mass murderer.
KAGAN: And the question of how seriously do they decide they want to use her mental illness as a mitigating circumstance. It's a pretty tough jury. Were I the defense attorneys, I would be worried today. My gut feeling is that they will give her life, but you could never relax on that because of the speed of the verdict in the murder phase.
KAGAN: Right, but couldn't you actually play that both ways? One, that the -- you know, this is a jury that is not goofing around, and they are ready to throw the book at her, or two, they so decided on this case in the beginning that this was all decided, even before the death penalty phase began.
ALKSNE: Yes. Welcome to reading the tea leaves in juries. There is no way to actually know. You can make argument either way, and that's why it's a big mystery. We'll just have to wait and see. KAGAN: Well, we'll be watching, and I know you will be watching right along with us. And, once again, the judge is allowing the -- the judge is allowing cameras in the courtroom for closing statements, and we will be showing that here on CNN.
Cynthia Alksne, thank you so much.
ALKSNE: Thank you.
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