Lawyers in Galveston County said the overturned conviction of Andrea Yates showed that a misstatement from a witness, especially an expert witness, could sting even the most prepared attorneys.
“You do what you can to confirm someone’s credentials and make sure they’re on the level, but at some point, you have to trust that they’re going to be truthful on the stand,” said First Assistant District Attorney Mo Ibrahim.
Thursday’s ruling by the 1st State Court of Appeals reversed Yates’ March 2002 conviction on a capital murder charge because of false statements by prosecution expert witness Park Dietz.
“You can’t give the jury, the triers of fact, something that possibly influences them that is not true and then say, ‘Oh well,’” said defense attorney Greg Russell. “This lady’s going to spend life in prison on something that could have been based on incorrect information.”
Dietz was the only one of the 10 psychiatrists testifying in the trial who told jurors that Yates knew drowning her children in her home bathtub was wrong when she did it, on June 20, 2001. Dietz testified that Yates, who watched the program “Law & Order,” could have gotten the idea from an episode in which a woman was found insane after drowning her children similarly.
“I’m a little surprised that it was overturned on that, but since he was the only prosecution expert, it hurt their case when he got caught using information without any basis in fact,” said defense attorney Tim Weatherly.
The appeals court ruled that the “Law & Order” notion could have influenced the Houston jury to convict Yates, which was problematic, since no such episode aired before the Yates case went to trial.
“I think the ruling was appropriate, although the key issue in the case is insanity, and that’s really the only issue,” said defense attorney Bruce Fort. “When you’re lining up an expert, you have to do as much homework as you can. On this particular case, it seems like this just came out of the blue, and that can happen, no matter how much research you do.”
Assistant district attorney Joel Bennett said prosecutors here research prospective expert witnesses’ curriculum vitae, a listing of credentials and experience, and looked at other cases they have been involved in before seeking to use them in trials.
“It’s also a good idea to talk to other experts in the same field, to find out what their reputation is among their peers,” Bennett said.
