Defense urges jury to spare Yates from death penalty

Associated Press WriterHOUSTON (AP) -- The mother of a Texas woman convicted of drowning her children asked a jury Thursday to spare her daughter from the death penalty. Prosecutors referred jurors back to the testimony from the first part of the trial.

"I've lost seven people in one year," Andrea Yates' mother, Jutta Karin Kennedy, told jurors, referring to her five dead grandchildren and her husband, who died a year ago this week.

"I'm here pleading for her life," Kennedy said.

Yates, 37, was convicted Tuesday of two capital murder charges for the drowning deaths of three of her five children. Evidence surrounding the deaths of her other two children also figured into the case.

Defense attorney George Parnham told jurors he accepts their verdict but doesn't agree with it. "In effect, her life is over one way or another," he said. "Her children are gone and she sits here through her lawyers asking that she be spared."

Prosecutors said they wouldn't present any additional evidence to the same jury that determined Yates was sane when she drowned her children in a family bathtub.

"All of the evidence was admitted during the case in chief," prosecutor Joe Owmby told jurors and State District Judge Belinda Hill.

Citing the lack of additional prosecution evidence, defense attorneys asked that Hill immediately sentence Yates to life. Hill denied the request, meaning that the decision on whether Yates should face the death penalty would be debated by jurors.

Jurors have two punishment options: life in prison or death by injection.

Under Texas law, the decision comes down to how jurors answer two questions: Does she pose a future danger to society? And are there mitigating circumstances to sentence her to life as opposed to death?

Jurors must be unanimous on both questions -- that she is a danger and that there are no mitigating circumstances -- in order for a death sentence to be imposed.

James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said even though the jury of eight women and four men rejected Yates' insanity defense, it doesn't mean the panel won't consider her mental history during the trial's punishment phase.

"Their refusal to accept it the first time is not any indication they won't accept it in sparing her life," Cohen said.

Legal experts say prosecutors face an uphill battle in trying to prove Yates is a continuing threat to society.

"Before it was a much tougher case for the defense," Southern Methodist University School of Law professor Dan Shuman said Wednesday. "I think now it is a much tougher case for the prosecution.

"The jurors now are operating under no illusions that she is going to be set free."

As for mitigation, South Texas College of Law professor Neil McCabe said the state already has acknowledged a major mitigating circumstance by saying Yates did suffer from a severe mental disease.

"It wasn't enough to carry their burden on the insanity defense, but since the government admits she is severely mentally ill they could run that around the courtroom some more," he said.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 31 people were sent to death row last year, down slightly from 34 in 2000. In 1999, 48 convicted killers were condemned.

Texas by far, with 262 executions since 1982, is the nation's most active death penalty state. During the past 20 years, two women have been put to death.

Yates was convicted on two capital murder charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Noah, 5-year-old John and 6-month-old Mary. Charges have not been filed in the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.

If Yates receives life, she would have to serve at least 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. If sentenced to die, she would become the ninth woman on Texas' death row.