Inside the Andrea Yates Trial

H O U S T O N, Feb. 25 -- In the Houston courtroom where she is on trial for capital murder, all eyes are on Andrea Yates all the time.

She is on powerful anti-psychotic drugs and when she enters the courtroom she nods to her attorneys and seems very much aware of her surroundings. She alternates her two outfits, wearing a gray knit long-sleeved dress one day, and a brown jumper with a white blouse the next.

Yates sat stoically during opening statements last week, but sobbed as the prosecution showed pictures of the five children she drowned in a bathtub. Most of the time she sits stooped over.

Her family members sit several rows back, but Yates does not turn to make eye contact with them. Her husband, Rusty Yates, is not allowed in court during the trial because he is going to testify for the defense, which claims Andrea Yates was insane at the time of the killings.

During jury selection, when Rusty Yates was in the courtroom, his wife frantically looked around the audience, then nodded when she locked eyes with him. He does visit his wife in the Harris County Jail psychiatric unit twice a week.

During testimony, Rusty Yates sits outside the court waiting for his relatives to come at every break to tell him the latest. He has not missed a day of the trial.

In a high-profile trial such as this, there are dozens of camera crews, satellite trucks and news people scrambling at the entrance to the court. As he waits outside, Rusty Yates is frequently joined by representatives from the ABC, NBC and CBS morning news shows, all anxious to have him as a guest at the conclusion of the trial.

Television cameras are barred from the courtroom, and the case has been additionally difficult to cover because of a gag order issued by Judge Belinda Hill that bars all parties involved in the case from talking to the media.