Nation digest 2/18

Jurors to hear case of drowned children

HOUSTON -- The fate of Andrea Yates hinges on whether the jurors who start hearing evidence today will believe she knew the difference between right and wrong when she drowned her five young children in their bathtub, then called 911 and told police what she had done.

The 37-year-old woman faces two capital murder charges in the June 20 deaths of three of her five children, ranging in age from 7 years to 6 months.

Defense attorneys say the former nurse turned stay-at-home mom is innocent by reason of insanity. They will try to prove that she suffered from a severe mental disease or defect which prevented her from knowing that holding her children beneath water until they could no longer breathe was wrong.

Convicted killer escapes from prison in Texas

ABILENE, Texas -- A convicted killer overpowered a correctional officer and escaped from a state penitentiary Sunday.

John William Roland, 33, took Sgt. Wesley Hurt's uniform, handcuffed and beat him before escaping in Hurt's pickup truck about 4:45 a.m., said Larry Todd, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He said there was no weapon in the truck. Hurt was treated in a hospital for cuts and bruises and released Sunday. He told investigators Roland had threatened to kill him.

NASA space probe looks for water in Mars soil

PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft will start examining the contents of the dry, dusty surface of Mars this week, searching for what scientists expect are vast, hidden stores of water.

Scientists already know there is water on Mars -- in ice that caps the north pole, frost seen at high latitudes and wispy clouds crowding the planet's highest peaks.

Evidence of far more extensive amounts of water, even buried glaciers, could be found during the 2001 Mars Odyssey's 917-day science mission that begins this week.

The possibility excites scientists because it would support theories that the planet was once -- and may still be -- wet enough to be hospitable to life.

Georgia town struggles with identifying bodies

NOBLE, Ga. -- Distraught families began the wrenching task of identifying loved ones Sunday in this rural community where dozens of decomposing corpses were being removed from a crematory.

Authorities had recovered 97 bodies -- including an infant -- from storage sheds and scattered in woods behind Tri-State Crematory in Noble.

The final toll is expected to reach 200, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner. Sixteen people have been identified. The discoveries began Friday when a woman walking her dog found a skull.

"We're just barely skimming the surface," Sperry said. "Some of the remains are mummified."

Demonstrators protest near cardinal's residence

BOSTON -- Demonstrators carried protest signs and sang hymns Sunday outside the residence of Cardinal Bernard Law, demanding that he resign because of his handling of allegations that priests sexually abused children.

Calls for Law's resignation have intensified since he admitted he transferred defrocked priest John Geoghan to other churches after learning of sexual abuse accusations against him.

"Law Breaks Law -- Resign," said one sign Sunday.

Smaller version of Lady Liberty moved from roof

NEW YORK -- A 37-foot statue of Lady Liberty that has stood on a rooftop for a century was hauled on Sunday to its new home at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

The Athena Group, owner of the statue and Liberty Warehouse where it stood, donated the artwork to the museum in honor of the police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers killed Sept. 11. It will be featured in the museum's sculpture garden.

The statue is roughly the same size as a copy of the Statue of Liberty that stands in Paris.

-- From wire reports