HOUSTON (voa) – A Houston, Texas, court has sentenced convicted murderer Andrea Yates to life in prison for the deaths of her children.
The 37-year-old Texas woman faced the death penalty for drowning her children in the family bathtub last June. But during sentencing arguments Friday her attorneys convinced the 12 jurors Yates would pose no threat to society if allowed to live out the rest of her life in custody. She will spend at least 40 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
The jury considered defense and prosecution arguments for less than an hour before returning the decision.
Earlier this week, the same jury convicted Yates of drowning her children in their Houston home last June. During the murder trial, prosecutors told the eight-woman, four-man panel that despite her history of treatment for mental illness, Yates knew the difference between right and wrong and was sane under Texas law.
