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American Morning
Attorneys for Andrea Yates Say She's Not a Murderer Because She's Insane
Aired February 18, 2002 - 07:08 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Moving on in the news now, she has confessed to drowning her five young children. But attorneys for Andrea Yates say she's not a murderer because she's insane. Prosecutors, though, don't buy it. They are seeking the death penalty.
When the opening statements begin in the trial today in Houston, Russell Yates will be where he's been throughout the tragic ordeal, standing by his wife.
Here's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This walk has become a ritual for Russell Yates. Twice a week, he visits a downtown Houston jail to spend 15 minutes with his wife.
RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: I missed a few days over Christmas but other than that I've been in every Tuesday and Friday.
LAVANDERA: A window separates Russell and Andrea Yates. They talk through a cluster of holes in the glass. She's still locked in the psychiatric wing of the jail.
RUSSELL YATES: They have like some kind of a mattress or something for her on the floor outside of where the other inmates sleep, because she's still under a suicide watch.
LAVANDERA: Russell says his wife is the last person you'd expect to see in jail. Family members say Andrea's psychotic condition is slowly improving.
FAIRY CAROLAND, RUSSELL YATES' AUNT: She's still not quite all there, but she's certainly more there than she has been, strictly because she's on the right medication now. And it took four months to get her there.
LAVANDERA: In several hours of off camera interviews and during a visit inside his home, Russell Yates talked about his life since June 20.
RUSSELL YATES: Happy birthday, dear John. JOHN YATES: Dear John.
LAVANDERA: He also showed us video of his children that he's learned to edit on the computer.
CAROLAND: He's cried a lot of private tears behind closed doors and we've all cried some tears together, you know, when we talk about the kids and different memories that we all have.
LAVANDERA: Russell gave away most of his children's toys and clothes, but the children's touches are still all over the house. A red heart and a tree drawing are taped to the walls, the playful work of 7-year-old Noah.
(on camera): Russell Yates says his coworkers at NASA have offered a lot of support since the murders, but he says concentrating at work has become almost impossible. So his bosses here at NASA have cut back his hours and his responsibilities, to help him get through the trial.
(voice-over): The trial will likely rekindle criticism of his family. Some have described Russell as controlling and manipulative of Andrea. Others say he doesn't show enough emotion. Russell's family says he grieves privately because he doesn't want to burden the people around him.
CAROLAND: Part of what people don't stop and back up and think about is that we all grieve in different ways. None of us do that in the same way and within my whole family we're all dealing with it in different ways.
LAVANDERA: Russell Yates' worst day since the murders came last Thanksgiving. He was asked at a church group what he was thankful for. He had no idea how to answer the question. When his turn came, he said, ``Now I'm just thankful to be alive.''
When you hear Russell tell this story, you realize he's still learning about himself and the confusing new world around him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Now, Andersen, there are only three possible outcomes to this trial. Either Andrea Yates will be sent to a mental hospital for the foreseeable future. Russell Yates' attorney says best case scenario she'd be there for about 10 years. Or if she is found guilty and a jury says she was sane at the time of the murders, Andrea Yates will either be sent to prison for life -- she couldn't be paroled for at least 40 years in Texas -- or she will be sent to death row.
About 60 witnesses have been called to testify and testimony is expected to last two to four weeks -- Andersen, back to you.
COOPER: Ed, seeing those pictures of the children is just heartbreaking. What has Andrea Yates' demeanor been throughout all of this? LAVANDERA: Well, in the conversations we've had with several family members they say that in the time since last June that she's been undergoing treatment in the county jail here in downtown Houston, that she's been put on the right medication, as they say, and that she's starting to show signs of improvement. The one change that has been noticed definitely has been that her memory, in Russell Yates' words, has been shot and that she is unable, at times in the middle of a conversation, to just forget what she's talking about and lose track of where the conversation is going.
But they say from day to day she's a lot more talkative and on the right track, they think.
COOPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks very much for joining us this morning -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, Andersen.
The family, of course, of Russell Yates expects that Andrea's murder trial will be quite an ordeal and they are rallying around him to support him during this time.
Earlier this morning, about a half hour ago, I spoke with Russell's aunt, Fairy Caroland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: Ms. Caroland, as the trial approaches, what's your greatest concern this morning going into this?
CAROLAND: My greatest concern is that the death penalty is even an issue in this case because our entire family believes that Andrea should be hospitalized and should not have even been brought up on these charges. If this was England, she would have never been pressed with charges because a child up to the two year, to the age of two years, a mother in that case would never be charged.
CAFFERTY: The prosecutors have made it very clear that they fully intend to press for the death penalty if she is convicted. What is your family, and more specifically, your nephew, doing to prepare for the possibility that that may be the way this turns out?
CAROLAND: We spend a lot of time talking with one another in the family, and certainly Rusty with the family, about all the possibilities. We've all been very prayerful about this whole situation, because it is a very difficult one. This is a woman with no type of criminal history whatsoever and someone who is a very compassionate and caring mother. So this has been a very strange thing, to us, to have happened, much less anyone else.
CAFFERTY: Have you seen or talked with Andrea?
CAROLAND: I have not seen her since I've been in town this trip. I haven't been here long enough. I did see her in January.
CAFFERTY: And... CAROLAND: I did see her in the courtroom, as well, but wasn't able to speak to her in the courtroom.
CAFFERTY: How would you characterize her state of mind based on the last visit you had with her?
CAROLAND: She's not quite still all there yet. In the same conversation she might ask a question about a family member and in two minutes or less ask the same exact question. She will not remember having said what she said. So this is not somebody totally functioning as yet.
CAFFERTY: It's been suggested by some that your nephew's role in the marriage and as the father of the children may be called into question as a part of the defense. It may be suggested as the trial unfolds that perhaps he could have done more to prevent what happened to the children.
Are you prepared for that? Is he prepared for that? And how does he view that possibility as this thing gets closer now?
CAROLAND: We've certainly heard things along that line and we have tried to prepare for that. We, however, know that he was extremely involved with the children. He was very attentive and affectionate with his children. He was very involved with them and with Andrea. He did everything he knew in dealing with the medical community to get her the help that she needed. And it was the medical community that failed her.
He also suggested long ago that they both work part-time so that he could stay home with the children and she could go back to nursing. And people keep forgetting that there were a lot of things done that simply nobody is calling attention to.
CAFFERTY: What about warning signs? Were there any that you can think of looking back -- and I understand that hindsight's always 20- 20.
CAROLAND: Right.
CAFFERTY: But was there any indication, any little hint any place along the line that something this horrific was in the cards?
CAROLAND: There was nothing that was ever said in regard to the children at all. The only thing that Andrea ever stated, and this was strictly to Rusty at brief moments in the past, that she didn't feel like she was a good mother. And at one point when she was at the hospital she actually spoke to the two oldest children and told them that she was sorry she was not a good mother.
And Rusty tried to affirm her at that point and tell her you are a good mother. But that's the only thing. She simply talked about herself, and that was strictly, again, with Rusty. It was not with other members of the family.
CAFFERTY: But there was no indication of animosity toward those kids prior to these events, nothing like that?
CAROLAND: Absolutely not. The night before she had called the pediatrician to check on medication for the 2-year-old, Luke, to make sure that she was getting the appropriate amount of medicine to give him because he had had a cold.
CAFFERTY: Do you feel as though she is going to get a fair trial? This is a case that has had a monumental amount of publicity before the trial actually gets under way. What are your thoughts on the possibility of a fair trial and whether or not perhaps the amount of publicity could have created an atmosphere that's been tinged in some way?
CAROLAND: There's always the possibility of something being tinged. There's also the, you know, the fact that with a jury you get whatever that group of people bring in with them. Everyone brings in baggage, whether they think they do or not. I've served on a jury in the past and I can tell you that sitting among a group of people there are always those that are more concerned about getting home for dinner and being with their own families and concerned about getting back to work than they are the person's life they're dealing with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: That was an interview with Fairy Caroland -- that's Russell Yates' aunt -- as Andrea Yates' trial prepares to begin in Houston, Texas. We taped that interview about a half hour ago.
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