• January 24, 2005
• Vol. 63
• No. 3

Andrea Yates: Could She Go Free?

A Stunning Court Decision May Win Her a New Trial

It was a legal bombshell: On Jan. 6, almost three years after a jury found Andrea Yates guilty of capital murder in the deaths of three of her five children, all of whom she drowned in 2001, a Texas appeals court overturned her conviction. At issue was the testimony of prosecution witness Dr. Park Dietz, a noted forensic psychiatrist, who at the trial said that shortly before the crime an episode of the TV show Law & Order had aired in which a woman had drowned her children but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors suggested Yates could have seen the show, bolstering their claim that she was sane and the killing was premeditated. It turned out, however, that no such episode existed, which prompted the appeals court to make its ruling.

WHERE IS YATES NOW?
She is being held at the Skyview Unit, a prison psychiatric facility in Rusk, Texas. At this point her lawyers have no plans to ask for her release. "She's in the best place," says her attorney George Parnham. "She's receiving excellent medical and psychological care."

WHO IS PARK DIETZ?
Dietz, who received more than $50,000 for his testimony in the Yates case, is well known for testifying—usually for the prosecution—in high-profile trials, including those of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinckley Jr. and Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?
Some court observers had quickly questioned the reference, and toward the end of the trial Dietz had learned from the show's producers of his mistake and wrote to the judge, saying he had confused the program with others. "He was a hired expert," says Houston attorney Mike DeGeurin. "It didn't surprise me a bit that that sort of error merited a reversal."

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?
Prosecutors have vowed to file for a rehearing. In the event of a retrial, it is not clear if they will again push for the death penalty, which the first jury rejected. Yates's legal team is not itching to get her back on the street anytime soon. "All we ever wanted for Andrea is mental health care," says attorney Parnham.