Jeff Flock: Chilling details of the Houston child killings
Q: What happened in court today?
A: Andrea Pia Yates made her first appearance before judge Belinda Hill and revealed that she did not have an attorney. Judge Hill appointed a public defender to take Ms. Yates' case and they met after the court appearance. Yates had her back to reporters for most of the session and said very little.
Yates has been charged with capital murder.
Q: Does that mean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty?
A: Not necessarily. Prosecutors do have the option of seeking capital punishment, but the prosecutors now working on the case will take as much as 30 days to make a recommendation to Chuck Rosenthal, who is the elected county prosecutor, about whether or not to go for the death penalty. I asked prosecutor Joe Owmby if this is the kind of case that merits the death penalty and he said he refused to say. But he did call this the most horrendous case he has ever seen. And he says he's prosecuted about a dozen capital murder cases in his career.
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VIDEO
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Russell Yates pledges to stand by his wife. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports (June 21)
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Q: Are any other details emerging about what happened?
A: The Houston Chronicle, in today's editions quotes a police investigator who says he saw a tape of a statement Ms. Yates gave to police in which she details how she committed the crimes. The investigator quoted by the Chronicle says that in "zombie like fashion" Yates admitted to drowning each of the children in a bathtub. And in the most chilling detail, she allegedly describes a scene in which her oldest child, Noah, age 7, came into the bathroom and saw her drowning his 6-month-old sister Mary. According to the account, the boy tried to escape but she dragged him back into the bathroom where she drowned him too.
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