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American Morning
Defense in Yates Trial Has Historically Difficult Task
Aired February 21, 2002 - 09:13 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move on to the issue of the Andrea Yates trial. Yesterday, the judge agreed to allow into evidence dramatic photos of the five children after they were drowned, as well as other evidence from the crime scene. Neither side disputes the fact that the mother drowned her five kids. What they disagree on is whether or not she was insane or knew right from wrong.
CNN's David Mattingly looks at the historically difficult to prove defense.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it is a choice of murder or madness the prosecution almost always prevails. The insanity defense is rarely used, and even more rarely successful.
SANDRA GUERRA-THOMPSON, ASSOC. DEAN, UNIV. OF HOUSTON LAW CENT.: The odds are not good, obviously. The odds are very low.
MATTINGLY: For Andrea Yates, the Texas law regarding the insanity defense is considered mainstream, based on a standard established more than 150 years ago.
Up until the 1980s court interpretation had grown more liberal, allowing just the presence of mental illness to be a defense. But that changed with the assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan. John Hinckley Jr.'s successful use of the insanity defense provoked a retreat to the old standard, placing a heavy burden on attorneys defending people like Andrea Yates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What works against her is the fact that her behavior involved rationale thinking and dialogue. When she called 911, she admitted and confessed that she had killed her children, and she also said that she had been premeditating it, or contemplating it for two years.
FAIRY CAROLAND, RUSSELL YATES' AUNT: To punish someone who is mentally ill and doesn't know the significance of what they are doing, that's crazy, that's insane.
MATTINGLY: Sometime the insanity defense does work. In 1997, a jury determined Houston mother Yvonne Rodriguez did not know right from wrong, and found her not guilty of beating and strangling her child. But under Texas law, legal experts say Yates prosecutors offered all the evidence they needed for a conviction when they played the 911 tape the first day.
GUERRA-THOMPSON: One can be very, very mentally ill, and still appreciate the difference between right and wrong, but under the law, it is only the people who cannot distinguish right from wrong that are insane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And the most disturbing evidence yet is expected today as the prosecution continues to push its point home, photographs and videotape taken by police officers of the five Yates' children as they found them in the Yates' home last summer -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, David, what exactly happens today once this court gets under way?
MATTINGLY: Well, yesterday, the attorneys were arguing about which photographs to show the jury today, and that's what we expect to see today. We weren't able to see them as they were all looking at them themselves, so the jury will see these photographs and video for the first time, and so will we.
ZAHN: David, just a quick reminder to us of how local Houstonians are reacting to this trial?
MATTINGLY: I'm sorry. Of how?
ZAHN: Just how locals are reacting to this trial, and whether they have any empathy for Andrea Yates or disdain.
MATTINGLY: Everyone seems to have an opinion. It varies from person to person, because this case is just that polarized. The most vocal people have been the Yates' family every day they come out to offer their opinion. And as you heard the aunts say, they think that it is crazy for someone like Andrea Yates to be prosecuted for murder.
All right, David Mattingly, thanks for that update. Appreciate it.
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