Kids' drownings took Yates several minutes, doctor says

The prosecution in the Andrea Yates retrial rested its case yesterday after its final witness, medical examiner Dr. Luis Sanchez, testified further about the condition of the bodies of Yates' children after she drowned them in her Clear Lake home in June 2001. Sanchez said it took at least three minutes of being held underwater in a bathtub for each child to lose consciousness, and up to 10 minutes for each to die.

"We're not talking about seconds — we're talking about minutes," Sanchez said of the children's deaths. "It was a slow death. It was not quick."

Sanchez said it appeared that 7-year-old Noah, Yates's oldest child, put up the biggest struggle: As many as 15 injuries were found on his body, and his muscles were unusually rigid, indicating he had been very active just before he died. John, 5, had bruises consistent with "grabbing" and 6-month-old Mary had a deep contusion on the back of her neck, Sanchez told jurors. Prosecutors are trying to show that Yates, who is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, planned to kill her children and knew doing so was wrong. That would mean a life sentence for Yates; if she's found not guilty, she will remain in a mental hospital under court jurisdiction.