It's Official: Yates is Insane

A Houston jury found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity today in the death of her children. Yates drowned her five young children in the bathtub of her home.

Her attorneys said the 42-year-old woman suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, believed that Satan was inside her and that killing the youngsters would save them from hell. She will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. A conviction would have sent her to prison for life.

Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting her claim of insanity. However, an appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness. In the prevous trail, Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, told the jury that before the drownings, NBC ran a "Law & Order" episode about a woman who was acquitted by reason of insanity after drowning her children. It was later learned that no such episode existed.

Yates' chief attorney, George Parnham, called Wednesday's verdict a "watershed for mental illness and the criminal justice system."Yates will be sent to North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, a prison-like maximum-security facility encircled by a 17-foot fence and guard towers. Experts say it can take decades before psychiatrists decide that a patient is healthy enough to be released, and even then a judge can reject those findings.

Prosecutors had maintained that Yates failed to meet the state's definition of insanity: that she was so severely mentally ill that she did not know her actions were wrong. "I'm very disappointed," prosecutor Kaylynn Williford said. "For five years, we've tried to seek justice for these children."