Texas mum who drowned children granted bail

Andrea Yates

HOUSTON - Texas mother Andrea Yates, awaiting retrial for drowning her five children, has been granted US$200,000 bail so she can go to a mental hospital but her lawyer said she would need donations to pay the bond.

Yates attorney George Parnham said she did not have the money for the US$20,000 deposit required to post bail, but he would "beat the bushes" to raise the amount and that she could get out of jail soon.

He had requested bail of US$50,000, while prosecutors argued for US$1 million.

Judge Belinda Hill set it at US$200,000, with the proviso that Yates must go to a mental health facility, which is what Parnham wanted anyway.

He sought bail to get her out of Harris County Jail and place her in a state hospital.

"She is very mentally ill," he told reporters after Wednesday's hearing. ""She will be treated as she needs to be treated (at a hospital). She is on a very heavy dosage of anti-psychotic medicine."

Yates drowned her children, who ranged in age from 6 months to 7 years old, in the family bathtub on June 20, 2001. During her first trial in 2002, witnesses said she killed them because she was trying to save them from the devil.

Yates had a history of mental illness, especially severe postpartum depression, and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She was convicted of capital murder, sentenced to life in prison and placed in a state prison for the mentally ill.

The conviction was overturned last year by an appellate court because of errant testimony by a key prosecution witness.

She was returned to Harris County Jail for retrial, set for March 20, and has again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Parnham and prosecutors have said they are trying to negotiate a plea bargain.

- REUTERS