Doctors: Andrea Yates OK for group outings
Doctors for Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake mother who killed her five children in 2001, have recommended that she be granted permission to attend group outings with other patients at the state psychiatric hospital where she has been institutionalized since a 2006 retrial found her innocent by reason of insanity, according to her attorney.
Yates, now 49, was initially convicted of capital murder for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke 2; and Mary, 6 months, in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court granted the new trial, after which she became an inpatient at Kerrville State Hospital.
She’s the only patient at the facility who has never received a group-outing pass, said George Parnham, her attorney.
A teleconference call between a judge, Parnham and staff at Kerrville State Hospital had been scheduled for Friday, but it was canceled because Parnham was unable to participate. Parnham said Saturday that he doesn’t anticipate the meeting being rescheduled until Yates’ next annual evaluation in the fall.
“The doctors recommended (Yates) could benefit from passes for a couple of hours to attend picnics with other patients,” said Parnham, adding that the outings would be part of Yates’ ongoing rehabilitation and that she would be accom-
panied by guards and staff at all times.
In 2012 Parnham said that he believed that Yates was ready for outpatient care. In May of that year, her request to attend church services outside the hospital was denied by a judge.
Parnham didn’t say much about Yates’ life inside minimum security Kerrville State Hospital but did note her involvement with arts and crafts.
She makes greeting cards and sews aprons, which are sold anonymously at craft shows. Parnham says Yates sends the proceeds to the Yates Children Memorial Fund, which began in 2002 to improve the mental health outcomes of mothers of new babies in the region.
“She wants to help build a legacy for those children to help prevent future tragedies like hers,” says Parnham. “Every kid deserves to be raised by a mother free of mental illness.”
Rusty Yates divorced Andrea Yates in 2004 and has since remarried.
Parnham, his wife and another friend of Yates’ are the only visitors she receives. Her brothers don’t keep in contact with her, and her mother is said to be in poor health, he said.
The Yates children are all interred at Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster.