HOUSTON (AP) — The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday let stand a lower court ruling that threw out Andrea Yates' murder convictions for drowning her children in a bathtub in 2001.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said the case will be retried or a plea bargain considered. Jurors rejected Yates' insanity defense in 2002 and found her guilty of two capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her five children.
A lower court ruling in January had thrown out the convictions because of erroneous testimony that prosecutors used to suggest that Yates had gotten the idea for the killings from an episode of the television show "Law & Order."
Curry had asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider the appellate ruling, but the high court refused.
Curry said if the case goes back to trial, he is confident Yates will be convicted again. She had been sentenced to life in prison.