Post by Anja on Jun 15, 2006 15:58:05 GMT -5
Groups call for limit on experts at Yates retrial----Judge will decide
whether to narrow witnesses to those with expertise in postpartum issues
A group of women's mental health advocates, doctors and professors joined
Andrea Yates' attorneys Wednesday in challenging the qualifications of
expert witnesses the prosecution is expected to use in Yates' upcoming
retrial.
The 21 organizations and individuals, who jointly filed a motion in a
Harris County court, argue that only experts fully familiar with
postpartum psychosis should be allowed to testify on whether Yates knew
that drowning her children was wrong.
Yates' attorneys are challenging the qualifications of the state's expert
witnesses, including Dr. Michael Welner, a New York forensic psychiatrist
who evaluated Yates during a two-day period last month at Rusk State
Hospital.
The issue is pending before state District Judge Belinda Hill, who will
preside over Yates' new capital murder trial, scheduled to begin June 26.
Conviction thrown out
Yates, 41, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sentenced
to life in prison in 2002, but an appeals court threw out her capital
murder conviction last year.
The court cited concerns that an expert's erroneous testimony might have
swayed the jury.
The advocates who filed Wednesday's motion say that Yates clearly suffered
from "severe postpartum psychosis" when she drowned her five children in a
bathtub at the family's Clear Lake home on June 20, 2001.
But postpartum psychosis is an illness that is unfamiliar to many forensic
mental health experts, the advocates said.
They argue that the integrity of the verdict is at stake, depending on
which experts are allowed to testify in Yates' trial.
"Knowledge of the current research is required to ensure that the jury
receives necessary information about postpartum psychosis and how it
affected Mrs. Yates," the motion states. " ... The lack of expertise in
the relevant mental health area presents the peril of misleading the
jury."
The parties joining the motion included National Advocates for Pregnant
Women, the Postpartum Resource Center of New York, Postpartum Support
International and Texas Mental Health Consumers.
Harris County prosecutors said they will fight any effort to narrow the
witness list.
"The state is going to oppose any attempt to prevent the jury from hearing
everything it needs to hear in order to decide whether Andrea Yates is
insane," said Alan Curry, appellate division chief of the District
Attorney's Office.
"Limiting the evidence the jury is going to hear is probably not
appropriate in a case like this."
Entitled to a hearing
Curry said he doesn't believe the judge is required to consider the
advocates' brief, which he noted was filed by New York lawyers who do not
purport to be licensed in Texas.
But the defense is entitled to a hearing on whether certain experts'
testimony such as Welner's is admissible, he said.
"They're going to have every opportunity they need to explore his opinions
and the basis for those opinions before he testifies," Curry said.
"I don't know if they're going to be satisfied as to his expertise, but
I'm pretty confident the judge is going to be satisfied."
A postpartum disorder is a serious complication resulting from childbirth,
the group said in its motion.
Its rarest and most severe form is postpartum psychosis, which can cause
new mothers to hallucinate, hear voices and suffer insomnia, confusion or
cognitive impairment, the advocates said. Only 0.2 % of childbearing women
suffer such severe symptoms, they said.
(source: Associated Press)
whether to narrow witnesses to those with expertise in postpartum issues
A group of women's mental health advocates, doctors and professors joined
Andrea Yates' attorneys Wednesday in challenging the qualifications of
expert witnesses the prosecution is expected to use in Yates' upcoming
retrial.
The 21 organizations and individuals, who jointly filed a motion in a
Harris County court, argue that only experts fully familiar with
postpartum psychosis should be allowed to testify on whether Yates knew
that drowning her children was wrong.
Yates' attorneys are challenging the qualifications of the state's expert
witnesses, including Dr. Michael Welner, a New York forensic psychiatrist
who evaluated Yates during a two-day period last month at Rusk State
Hospital.
The issue is pending before state District Judge Belinda Hill, who will
preside over Yates' new capital murder trial, scheduled to begin June 26.
Conviction thrown out
Yates, 41, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sentenced
to life in prison in 2002, but an appeals court threw out her capital
murder conviction last year.
The court cited concerns that an expert's erroneous testimony might have
swayed the jury.
The advocates who filed Wednesday's motion say that Yates clearly suffered
from "severe postpartum psychosis" when she drowned her five children in a
bathtub at the family's Clear Lake home on June 20, 2001.
But postpartum psychosis is an illness that is unfamiliar to many forensic
mental health experts, the advocates said.
They argue that the integrity of the verdict is at stake, depending on
which experts are allowed to testify in Yates' trial.
"Knowledge of the current research is required to ensure that the jury
receives necessary information about postpartum psychosis and how it
affected Mrs. Yates," the motion states. " ... The lack of expertise in
the relevant mental health area presents the peril of misleading the
jury."
The parties joining the motion included National Advocates for Pregnant
Women, the Postpartum Resource Center of New York, Postpartum Support
International and Texas Mental Health Consumers.
Harris County prosecutors said they will fight any effort to narrow the
witness list.
"The state is going to oppose any attempt to prevent the jury from hearing
everything it needs to hear in order to decide whether Andrea Yates is
insane," said Alan Curry, appellate division chief of the District
Attorney's Office.
"Limiting the evidence the jury is going to hear is probably not
appropriate in a case like this."
Entitled to a hearing
Curry said he doesn't believe the judge is required to consider the
advocates' brief, which he noted was filed by New York lawyers who do not
purport to be licensed in Texas.
But the defense is entitled to a hearing on whether certain experts'
testimony such as Welner's is admissible, he said.
"They're going to have every opportunity they need to explore his opinions
and the basis for those opinions before he testifies," Curry said.
"I don't know if they're going to be satisfied as to his expertise, but
I'm pretty confident the judge is going to be satisfied."
A postpartum disorder is a serious complication resulting from childbirth,
the group said in its motion.
Its rarest and most severe form is postpartum psychosis, which can cause
new mothers to hallucinate, hear voices and suffer insomnia, confusion or
cognitive impairment, the advocates said. Only 0.2 % of childbearing women
suffer such severe symptoms, they said.
(source: Associated Press)