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maleficent · 11-09-2005, 08:04 AM

Andrea Yates To Get New Trial In Kids' Deaths

Quote:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to reconsider a lower court decision that overturned the capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates.

A prosecutor said the case of the Houston woman -- who drowned her five children in a bathtub -- will be retried, or a plea bargain will be considered.

The Houston homemaker had been sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of three of her five children she says she drowned in 2001. A three-judge appeals court in Texas sided with a defense claim that Yates had been convicted three years ago partly on the false testimony of a prosecution expert witness. The state's First Court of Appeals struck down the convictions earlier this year, saying erroneous testimony by prosecution expert Dr. Park Dietz may have swayed the jury against her.

Dietz testified about a "Law & Order" episode in which a woman was acquitted by reason of insanity for drowning her children. No such episode exists.

Dietz said he became confused after prosecutors told him there was a "Law and Order" episode with that plot. Dietz -- who's also a consultant to the "Law & Order" producers, said he wrote that information down in his notes.

The Newport Beach, Calif., forensic psychiatrist called the error an "honest mistake." But regardless of his misstatement, he said he has no doubt Yates knew right from wrong when she drowned her children.

Dietz had attempted to correct his testimony.

In a letter Dietz sent to the Harris County District Attorney's Officer shortly after he testified, he admitted to his mistake.

"My memory about the content of the show was incorrect. I was confounding the facts of three filicide cases I worked on and two episodes of 'Law & Order,'" Dietz's letter, dated March, 14, 2002, stated.

The psychiatrist was paid nearly $100,000 to testify at the Yates trial.

After the conviction was overturned, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said he was disappointed and felt the reasoning was not substantial enough to support the new ruling.

"We don't believe isolated testimony on cross examination by one of our witnesses had such an impact that it defeated the reliability of all of the other testimony that was presented during the trail. So, that's why we're going to continue to pursue the matter. And that's one of the biggest reasons why we're disappointed," Curry said.

A juror from the original trial said previously that testimony about that "Law & Order" episode did not affect their verdict.

Leona Baker said Dietz's testimony had no effect on the way jurors reached their verdict, and that she was disappointed the conviction was overturned.

"Personally, it made me feel a little discounted in what I did and what I invested my whole life in for a month," Baker said.

Baker said she fears another jury would now face the things she did and will have to hear the case again.

How is it possible that this woman will even get a fair trial... Is there anyone who isn't aware of what she did?

I'd still move to have her dear darling husband put on trial for depraved indifference or something...