Jury Finds Andrea Yates Not Guilty Of Murder
Andrea Yates showed little emotion as a Houston judge told her jurors had found her not guilty by reason of insanity in the drownings of her children.
Yates is expected to be committed to a state mental facility, where she will receive periodic reviews to consider her health and possible release.
The verdict was returned during the jury's third day of deliberations, after Yates' lawyers argued their client was delusional when she drowned her five children in the bathtub. Yates has admitted drowning all five of her kids that day in 2001.
Prosecutors contended that Yates may have been mentally ill, but she still knew what was wrong -- a defining issue for proving legal insanity in Texas.
In 2002, a jury took just four hours to convict her of capital murder. That verdict was overturned because of inaccurate testimony. The death penalty remains off the table because no new evidence was presented.
The state defines insanity as mentally illness so severe that a person doesn't know while committing a crime that it's wrong.
Jurors earlier asked to see more evidence Wednesday as they deliberated for the third day in Houston.
They asked to see a family photo and candid pictures of her five smiling youngsters taken before she drowned them in the family bathtub.
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