Jury to choose between jail and death for Yates
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Internal links
The Texas jury that convicted Andrea Yates of capital murder for drowning her children in the family bathtub will begin hearing testimony today to decide whether to sentence the mentally ill suburban housewife to life imprisonment or death by lethal injection.
The jury of eight women and four men took less than four hours to reach their guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon, despite the complexity of the case and the overwhelming evidence that Yates, 37, had a long history of post-partum depression and psychotic breakdown.
Both the defence and many of the psychiatric experts who testified at the trial expressed amazement that the jury did not side with Yates' plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Instead, they agreed with the prosecution that, for all her mental problems, the mother still knew right from wrong when she killed her five children, aged six months to seven years, on 20 June last year.
The district attorney's office in Houston has sought the death penalty from the beginning. Legal experts believe that a death sentence in this case, with all its mitigating circumstances, would be likely to be overturned on appeal.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments