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American Morning

Journalist Discusses Yates Trial Interviews

Aired March 04, 2002 - 08:08   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to turn our attention now to the trial of Andrea Yates, and two psychiatrists, who met with her while she was in jail, testified for the defense on Friday. Now, their testimony put the spotlight on the mental health system, saying she had been in a deep psychosis, and therefore, legally insane for weeks leading up to the drownings.

Coming up this week, attorneys are planning to grill Dr. Mohammed Saeed, the last psychiatrist to see Yates, before she committed the murders. But the blame is not only limited to those who may have failed her, but is being spread to those who are believed to have misled her as well.

The big question this hour: How was Andrea Yates influenced by a traveling preacher? An evangelist named Michael Woroniecki has been accused of contributing to Yates' downward mental spiral.

And investigative journalist, Suzanne O'Malley, has interviewed Woroniecki, and she has been covering the Yates trial as well. And her interview with Andrea Yates' husband, Russell Yates, appeared in the Sunday's "New York Times" magazine. Susanne O'Malley now joins us from Houston.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE O'MALLEY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: I wanted to start off with talking about the traveling preacher, Michael Woroniecki, who was the focus of much of the testimony last week. And it has been suggested that perhaps not only did he influence Andrea Yates, some people say he brainwashed her. You met him.

And before I give you the chance for you to give us your impressions of him, I wanted to read something that he has released to the media through you. He has said: "This has all been very unfair and damaging to our family and to the witness of the glory of Jesus Christ. What is most upsetting is that all of the allegations completely contradict our true relationship with Andrea. We never told Andrea she was a voodoo witch controlled by demons or a mother of bad seed. This is nothing less than stupidity."

So what do you make of all of these contradictory reports, Suzanne? O'MALLEY: Well, Paula, I think that the -- you know, the Woroniecki's have not been heard from in person. And so we are reliant on a lot of his writing, and he is not a great writer. I think he doesn't represent himself very well.

When I met him, I was just -- again, this is a case with a lot of surprises, and I was completely surprised at how normal Michael Woroniecki and his wife and family seemed.

ZAHN: Describe your impressions of him and his wife and anything you might know about their relationship with Andrea Yates.

O'MALLEY: Well, the two families are very close. They, you know, spent vacations together. He has six children. They have babysat for the Yates children. They live a very literal version of the Bible. You're not figurative in any way. You don't go to church every Sunday driving a Mercedes. They actually, you know, give up money. They give up any other kind of lifestyle than preaching the Bible.

ZAHN: And he gets pretty defensive, when he hears this criticism that in some way he misled Andrea and led to her downfall in some way?

O'MALLEY: You know, I think that there are many, many people in the United States, who follow a literal definition of the Bible. Probably a schizophrenic is not the best person for that kind of interpretation. So I think that, you know, the Woroniecki's are saying, you know, Andrea Yates is the probably sickest person I have ever seen. I'm not a psychiatrist, of course. But you know, I think they read and practice their religion in a way that's completely normal. I think Andrea misinterpreted perhaps through her mental illness.

ZAHN: So they acknowledge that they even believe during this long relationship that they have that they thought she was sick all along?

O'MALLEY: They did begin to think she was sick a couple of years ago. They thought there was a problem. Of course, they do believe that Jesus Christ could cure. On the other hand, if there is not a cure in Jesus Christ, I think they also feel that Andrea should have had the appropriate other help.

You can hear a lot more about this in a "Dateline" NBC that's coming up that's actually the capacity in which I met the Woroniecki's. That will be coming up right after the trial.

ZAHN: All right. We'll have to wait for that, but before we let you go, let's quickly move on to the issue of Russell Yates. You wrote in "The New York Times" magazine that Yates has been called self-centered, controlling and abusive on late night TV and talk shows, but you don't have that view of him. What do you think?

O'MALLEY: Well, I did to begin with. I really came to Texas, to Houston, thinking it's the husband's fault, and I am going to find him out. And, you know, I met Rusty, talked to him, and he is kind of a likable guy.

But mainly what convinced me was an objective source of 2,000 pages of medical records. And these are notes from doctors, nurses, 10, 20, 30 of each over two years of hospitalizations. And every one of them -- you know, you read the nurse's note. Rusty showed up for visiting hour. He brought flowers. He held her head in his lap. He brought all four kids. He spoon fed her -- I mean, day after day after day. This is not something that you could orchestrate. It's something that's just sitting there in the filing cabinet. So the guy showed up, and that's what impressed me.

In fact, we are going to hear today from Dr. Saeed, someone that we have been all looking very anxiously forward to meeting on the stand. He is the doctor who discontinued her medication, Haldol, two weeks before the children were drowned. He is also the fellow, who Rusty Yates, the medical records show, he badgered Dr. Saeed literally to put Andrea on Haldol...

ZAHN: All right.

O'MALLEY: ... week after week after week, and Saeed just didn't want to do it.

ZAHN: We are going to have to leave it there this morning. Suzanne O'Malley -- thank you for your insights. And CNN, of course, will be covering the latest in the Andrea Yates trial throughout the day -- thanks again for joining us.

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