Yates Evidence Released

The Texas Attorney General released to the media Friday various exhibits shown to the jurors at the Andrea Yates trial, CBS News Correspondent Mike Wallace reports.

The decision was made over the passionate objections of Andrea Yates' defense attorney George Parnham and defense psychiatrist Dr. Lucy Puryear. The material includes Andrea Yates' conversations with Dr. Puryear, but also grisly pictures from the crime scene, and autopsy photos of the Yates children.

"When I found out it was about to happen, I was quite upset and somewhat sick to my stomach," Puryear told Wallace in an interview Friday afternoon. "And I just worry that, to throw those tapes out into the public, for people to look at, that have absolutely no experience with mental illness, it is a disaster."

Andrea Yates, 37, claimed to be insane when she drowned her five children in the bathtub. But the jury rejected her defense and convicted her of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Some arguing for the release of the evidence said the public should have access to what helped the jury form its verdict. But Puryear feels the jury was given valuable context that any distribution through the media might lack. "Some of what the jury saw is so graphic and so disturbing that no one would want to see them -- I'm talking about the pictures -- except for voyeuristic reasons," she said. "There's absolutely no reason that anyone would want to see autopsy pictures of dead children. It would serve no purpose other than to titillate."

Also Friday, the prosecutor in the Yates case said Russell Yates bears no criminal responsibility for the drowning deaths of his five children at the hands of his wife.

Shortly after Andrea Yates was convicted in March, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office was looking into whether her husband had any culpability.

Russell Yates was at work at the time of the killings a year ago, but prosecutors have questioned why he left his wife alone with the children, given her history of mental illness, including depression and attempts at suicide.

"We have no prosecutable case against anyone else at this time," Rosenthal said..

Russell Yates has accused doctors and hospitals of not properly treating his wife.

"Russell Yates is a victim," said his attorney, Edward Mallett. "He is a victim of a system that didn't care for his wife when he was trying to get care for her. And he will carry this memory with him for the rest of his life."