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American Morning

Key Prosecution Psychologist Discusses Yates Trial

Aired March 18, 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The big question at this hour, was Andrea Yates' doctor at fault? There is word that her husband, Russell Yates, thinks that her doctor made a mistake by not putting her back on medication days before she murdered her children, while Yates' family apparently feels Russell Yates may be to blame for not getting Andrea the proper medical treatment that she needed.

This morning a judge is scheduled for formally sentence Andrea Yates to spend the rest of her life in prison. Forty years she must serve before becoming eligible for parole.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Parke Dietz was one of the prosecution's key witnesses during the trial and he joins us this morning from Los Angles, California.

Dr. Dietz, appreciate you getting up. I realize it's a much earlier hour out there. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

DR. PARKE DIETZ, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Thank you, Jack.

Let me correct the record and say that I'm a forensic psychiatrist rather than a psychologist.

CAFFERTY: I'm sorry. I apologize. There was a mistake in the copy.

Let me ask you to begin this chat about your testimony. You told the jury during the trial that Andrea Yates may have gotten the idea of drowning her children from an episode of the television show "Law and Order." It turns out no such episode existed and I was just curious why you said what you did about that TV program.

DIETZ: I didn't say that, actually. My report, which is 103 pages long, says not a word about "Law and Order." My direct testimony, my slides for the jury said nothing about it. In response to a question on cross-examination I had the facts mistaken where I confused two episodes. But that's been attacked because there was nothing the defense could do to attack the 15 reasons I gave for believing she knew it was wrong. So instead they're challenging my memory of the TV show.

CAFFERTY: You don't think that you were attacked on that because it might have improperly influenced the jury? Is that not a possibility? DIETZ: I don't think so. And I did not say that Andrea Yates ever watched that show. Her husband, in fact, had told a doctor that she watched every episode. But I didn't say a word about it. And I don't think that the show had anything to do with this crime.

CAFFERTY: And you're not concerned that her lawyers may use that as a partial basis for an appeal they plan to file?

DIETZ: Well, I'm sure they'll use anything they can, but it has nothing to do with the basis of my opinion that she knew it was wrong. I based that on what she said and what she did.

CAFFERTY: All right, let me ask you this, in your capacity as an M.D., as a psychiatrist, Andrea Yates was found not to meet Texas' legal definition of insanity. But what about your thoughts? I mean was this a sane woman, in your opinion?

DIETZ: This was a very sick woman in some jurisdictions I would have had the opinion that she was insane. In Texas, the definition is very strict and it's our job as forensic experts to go by the law, to do a careful analysis and educate the jurors on the evidence as we find it.

Andrea Yates told me that the idea that Satan was in her didn't occur to her until after she was arrested and that as she killed the children, she knew it was illegal, knew it was wrong in the eyes of the law, knew it was wrong in the eyes of god. And I thought that that was pretty compelling evidence.

We also know that she hid what she was about to do. She'd planned it. She kept it secret. She waited until there were no witnesses. So even though she may have thought this was in the best interests of the children, on balance I think that the facts clearly show she knew what she was doing was wrong.

CAFFERTY: All right, there have been a number of opinions offered by various people associated with this trial in the days since the jury handed up their verdict. Let me play a little piece of tape for you, if I can, comments that her husband Russell Yates made after the trial was over. I'd like to get your reaction to this. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: We didn't see her as a danger. The real question to me is, you know, how could she have been so ill and the medical community, you know, not diagnose her, not treat her and I'll say not protect our family from her?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: The question, I guess, is does he have a point?

DIETZ: Well, yes and no. Certainly she did receive treatment for a long time and he took her to many physicians. She took some of the medications that were prescribed for her and in retrospect it looks like some different medication might have been helpful. But he was told not to leave her alone with the children and it's no physician's fault that he made that error and left this woman alone the with kids.

CAFFERTY: That's fair enough. Let me get your opinion on the sentence. Did she get, at the end of the day, what she deserved? Does she deserve to be locked away in prison for the rest of her life?

DIETZ: Well, of course, that's not what I was asked at trial. My view of this is that a woman this sick who kills her children ought to be subject to a different kind of legal proceeding. If I were the king, I would have it that she were found accountable because she knew it was wrong but she would be treated and supervised very closely until she was no longer fertile. I don't think that prison is necessarily the right place to do that, but that's the law of Texas.

CAFFERTY: Yes, along the lines of what you're talking about, as I understand the law also, the jury was prohibited from being told that if they had found her guilty by reason of insanity, the jury could not be told that in that event she would be confined for a long period of time in some sort of mental institution and would not simply be released or resume treatment on an outpatient basis. Is that a piece of the law based on your experience with this trial that should be addressed?

DIETZ: Well, that's very common that jurors aren't told that and the reason they aren't told that is that it's not quite true. If she had been found insane, then she could have been released the next day if the physicians concluded that she weren't dangerous due to mental illness.

CAFFERTY: All right, Dr. Dietz, I appreciate very much you joining us. Again, thanks for getting up early. My apologies for misidentifying you.

Dr. Parke Dietz is a forensic psychiatrist. Thanks so much for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

DIETZ: Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Appreciate it.

Tonight on CNN, Larry King interviews Russell Yates. That's 9:00 Eastern on CNN.

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