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CNN Live At Daybreak

Attorney Who Defended Woman Charged With Drowning Her Children Discusses Andrea Yates Case

Aired June 28, 2001 - 07:33   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As the funeral for the Yates children was going on, their mother was sitting in a jail cell.

Texas attorney Dick DeGuerin defended another mother, Juana Leija, who was charged in a very similar killing, which involved trying to drown several of her children. She pled insanity, and the jury believed her. Mr. DeGuerin joins us live this morning.

Good morning, Mr. DeGuerin.

DICK DEGUERIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Carol.

LIN: So how similar are the cases of Juana Leija and Andrea Yates?

DEGUERIN: What we know about the Yates case is very limited, but the very act suggests that this woman wasn't in her right mind. It's almost an understatement to say that no mother kills her children and drowns them in a bathtub. Something is wrong here, and it's obvious that this woman is crazy.

LIN: What is it that the jury believed about your client? I mean, she tried to drown seven of her kids. Is that right? And two of them died.

DEGUERIN: It wasn't a jury, it was a judge that gave her deferred adjudication. But what happened was she was absolutely at wits' end. Her husband had been abusive of her and the children, and she was destitute. She had gone to every kind of social service to find help and couldn't. She believed that there was no way out for her and her children except to kill them.

LIN: Because Andrea Yates' situation appears to be, right now, as far as we know, very different --she was part of a loving household, with a supportive husband -- is her case going to be more difficult to defend?

DEGUERIN: Obviously, it will be because there are different circumstances. But you have to remember we don't know what went on in that home. We don't know what went on in her mind. That still remains to be seen.

There's a tough for the lawyers. They've got to find out. They've got to gather evidence about what was going on and be able to present that to a court or jury.

LIN: I was just reading about a case of an Indiana jury that convicted a 31-year-old woman who killed seven people, including three of her own kids. They had a similar plea situation, but the jury didn't buy it, and she got 215 years behind bars. Does Texas law mix well with cases of psychiatry and that sort of defense?

DEGUERIN: No, there's a real disconnect between psychiatry and the law. You have to remember also that Harris County has the most bloodthirsty D.A.'s office in the nation. So it remains to be seen whether this new district attorney now will have the compassion to understand that there is something wrong here and not seek the death penalty, and try to find out what should be done in this case.

LIN: Did you find it interesting, then, when we first saw the prosecutor coming out of the arraignment, that he talked about one capital murder charge, but he really hedged on whether they were going to seek the death penalty? Do you sense some compassion here?

DEGUERIN: Well, I certainly hope so. It's a true test for Chuck Rosenthal, the new D.A.

And the obvious conclusion that everyone has reached is something is wrong with this woman, and this just shouldn't have happened.

LIN: Is it helpful when we see the husband coming out and addressing the cameras at length, when we hear from the minister who presided over the funeral? Is that going to create a sympathetic jury pool?

DEGUERIN: I don't know. This is going to play out over the next few months. We're going to learn more about the family circumstances, I suppose. It's going to be hard for the public to understand it because there has been a gag order imposed on the lawyers and the police. That doesn't prevent leaks, and there will be leaks as there always are.

LIN: Any chance you think that Andrea Yates is going to go free?

DEGUERIN: I don't think that she will ever be free, whether she's in jail, or out, or whether she's in a hospital, or out. She's going to bear the burden of this for the rest of her life.

LIN: So do you think her best chance then in avoiding the death penalty is to plead insanity? Do you think she's got a pretty good case?

DEGUERIN: The acts themselves strongly scream this woman was insane.

LIN: Dick DeGuerin, we shall see what happens. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

DEGUERIN: You're welcome. Thanks, Carol.

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