HOUSTON – Defense attorneys denounced prosecutors' pursuit of the death penalty for a woman who allegedly drowned her five children — one of several legal maneuvers they have made as her trial draws nearer.
Lawyers for Andrea Pia Yates, 37, have filed 34 motions in advance of a pretrial hearing Monday. One accuses prosecutors of seeking the death penalty ``in bad faith'' as a ploy to ensure a conviction.
Yates faces two capital murder charges for drowning her five children in the family's bathtub in June. When police arrived at the home, after receiving a 911 call from Yates, they found the four youngest children's bodies still wet under a sheet on a bed. The oldest, 7-year-old Noah, was dead in the bathtub.
Yates' trial is scheduled for Jan. 7. She has said she is innocent by reason of insanity. Family members said she suffered from severe postpartum depression after the birth of the family's fifth child, 6-month-old Mary.