USA: mother who drowns children knows what she’s doing, experts say

She also deceived her husband so he would not suspect her plans, said Dr. Michael Welner, who evaluated Yates for two days in May.

Photo: USA: mother who drowns children knows what she’s doing, experts say

USA: mother who drowns children knows what she’s doing, experts say

Welner was to continue testifying Tuesday. Yates is being retried because her 2002 capital murder conviction was overturned by an appeals court that said some erroneous testimony may have influenced jurors.

Yates, charged in three of the children's deaths, will be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. She has again pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.

Her attorneys say she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and meets Texas' definition of insanity: that someone, because of a severe mental illness, does not know while committing a crime that it is wrong.

But Welner said he found 60 examples in his examination of how Yates knew drowning 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah was wrong. She filled the tub after her husband left, he said, and removed the bath mat so that the youngsters would have no traction to try and escape, according to the AP.