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American Morning

It Took Houston Jury Three Hours and 40 Minutes to Decide Yates Was Guilty of Capital Murder

Aired March 13, 2002 - 07:09   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're going to move back now to the guilty verdict in the Andrea Yates murder trial. It took a Houston jury three hours and 40 minutes to decide Yates was guilty of two counts of capital murder, rejecting the insanity defense. Now the trial's sentencing phase begins tomorrow and that is when jurors will decide whether Andrea Yates should get the death penalty or life in prison.

And joining us now from Houston, Suzy Spencer, author of "Breaking Point," who has spent a lot of time in the courtroom and whose book talks about the Yates family struggle. And from Washington, former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne.

Good morning to you both. Thank you for joining us this morning.

SUZY SPENCER, AUTHOR, "BREAKING POINT": Good morning.

CYNTHIA ALKSNE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Good morning.

ZAHN: Suzy, you've been in this courtroom throughout the trial. Were you surprised by this verdict?

SPENCER. I don't know so much surprised, but like everyone else about how quickly it came back, because when there was a psychiatrist named Dr. Rosenblatt who testified a couple of weeks ago and he said at that point that Andrea knew right from wrong and I kind of went oops at that point.

ZAHN: You happened to be sitting right behind Andrea Yates' family when the verdict came down. Describe to us what you saw from their reaction and any reaction you could glean from the jury.

SPENCER. Well, mainly I was just so overwhelmed watching the Kennedy family. Her brother Brian, who is considered her closest brother, his head just went down and he just moved away from everyone. Mrs. Kennedy, Andrea's mother, her face started to crack and but yet she held it in and she was being held by the jury consultant and her son Andrew, who had no expression.

The thing that shocked me the most was when Andrea was being led out of the courtroom and she turned to their family and tried to smile to reassure them but it just wouldn't come. Her lips quivered and she started breaking into tears and then she was led out. ZAHN: And, Suzy, how much could you read into the jury's reaction when the jury was polled following the announcement of the verdict?

SPENCER. That's one of the things that shocked me, that there was absolutely no quivering voice, no emotion, no tears. It was just solid sort of an angry yes.

ZAHN: Cynthia, I know you watched the verdict come down as well and you also saw the polling the jury members. What did you make of what Suzy just described, which was very little, a forceful reaction?

ALKSNE: Right. You know, trial watchers always watch the jury as they come into the courtroom, and this jury apparently did not look at Andrea Yates. And, you know, in, and when you're reading the tea leaves, if the jury doesn't look at the defendant, they're probably going to end up guilty and if the jury does look at the defendant, they're going to be not guilty.

So, and that rang true in this case.

ZAHN: And I know, Cynthia, we've had you on a number of times over the last several weeks, and you have said repeatedly that it was your belief the defense had actually out lawyered the prosecution. You thought the verdict could go either way.

ALKSNE: Io thought it was going to hang.

ZAHN: What happened here?

ALKSNE: I thought it was going to hang.

ZAHN: You did? That's right.

ALKSNE: I did and now probably somebody will write something in the paper about me. But I did think it was...

ZAHN: They don't need to.

ALKSNE: I know. I thought they would convince at least one juror and that it would hang I admittedly am shocked that it only took them three and a half hours. And what that means is that they had made up their mind, you know, long before the closing statements that they were going to convict her. My guess would also be that they have made up their mind on what they think is the appropriate punishment.

ZAHN: And do you have any analysis of what that might be?

ALKSNE: Well, I -- sure. I mean I think they will give her life in prison. I don't think she'll get the death penalty. And one of the reasons for that may turn out to be that this jury was not told -- nor is any jury in Texas told -- that if they had given her not guilty by reason of insanity, that she would have been institutionalized, perhaps for even longer than she might get in jail. And there is a law in Texas that doesn't allow the jury to know that. So the jury members don't have any idea that this woman who has just murdered five children is not going to be walking the streets and getting pregnant again so she can do it again.

And it's a flaw in the Texas system. My, there will be a move to fix it and I'm not sure it will be, but it's a legal issue that needs to be addressed.

ZAHN: Suzy, Cynthia just talked about her surprise that it took less than four hours to deliberate this, which she suggested meant they probably had made their mind up going into this. What was the significance of the jury asking for the audio player? I understand as evidence they could listen to were the 9/11 tapes, as well as Mrs. Yates confession.

SPENCER. Yes, I have a feeling it was probably the confession that they listened to and then also they asked for the definition of insanity. And where it doesn't talk about did they know the difference between wrong -- right and wrong. It just simply states did you know what you did was wrong? And we had on there so many times where she said I knew what I had done was wrong.

I thought when on Monday they presented that at the moment she didn't know that it was wrong, it was only when she called the police that she realized it was wrong, that that might have an effect. But obviously it didn't.

ZAHN: A final question to both of you about what Rusty Yates must do when he comes back to the stand during the sentencing phase. Will he be able to spare his wife's life, Suzy?

SPENCER. I don't know. I mean we have to look whether she's a future threat. But the main thing is can Rusty win the jury over? Because I've heard through the grapevine the jury does not like Rusty. So that may be a big factor.

ZAHN: A final thought on that, Cynthia, this morning?

ALKSNE: My thought would be that her mental illness is the only thing that will spare her life, not her husband.

ZAHN: All right, we are going to leave it there.

Cynthia Alksne, Suzy Spencer, thank you for both of your insights this morning. Delighted to have you with us.

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