Drowning Suspect Isn’t Ready for Trial: Doctor
Andrea Yates’ mental state is improving but she is not well enough to immediately go on trial in the drownings of her children, a defense psychologist testified in Houston.
“She is rapidly getting better,” Dr. Gerald Harris, a clinical psychologist, testified at a competence hearing. He has visited Yates four times since June 20, when she summoned police to her southeast Houston home and officers found the bodies of her five children.
Jurors, 11 women and one man, will have to decide whether Yates, 37, is fit to stand trial on two capital murder charges in the drowning deaths of three of the children.
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