Psychiatrist: Yates thought kids were bound for hell

A psychiatrist who interviewed Andrea Yates after her kids' deaths and reviewed other interviews gave an interesting insight in Yates' capital murder retrial yesterday, saying Yates drowned her children because she believed they would end up living in sin and would go to hell.

Dr. Phillip Resnick said Yates thought she had to kill the kids before they reached age 10 to keep them from ruin: She believed one of her sons would grow up to become a serial killer and another would end up as a "mute homosexual prostitute," Resnick said.

Yates' religious beliefs, he said, were the "trellis" on which her delusions grew. She believed, he said, that she had caused her children to stumble and Satan wanted them in hell.

"Mrs. Yates began to believe that not only was Satan tormenting her, but tormented her children," Resnick said. "She believed that Satan would have her children."

The point of Resnick's testimony for the defense was to show that Yates didn't know right from wrong when she killed the kids. "Even though she knew it was against the law, she did what she thought was right in the world she perceived through her psychotic eyes at the time," Resnick said. If jurors find her not guilty by reason of insanity — which is what the defense is going for — Yates will be sent to a mental hospital; if they find her guilty, she'll be sentenced to life in prison.

A side note on Resnick: He's testified in a variety of high-profile cases, including those of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski and Susan Smith, the woman sent to jail for life for drowning her two sons in 1994.

Update: The defense rested this morning; closing arguments are expected to begin Monday morning