After hearing nine days of testimony and a day of closing arguments by the prosecution and defense, jurors in Sauk County returned a guilty verdict Tuesday for David Yates on two counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
The 48 year-old Baraboo was charged in the deaths of of his children, 5-week-old Tyler and Savannah Yates. A Baraboo police officer discovered in the infants battered to death in Yates’ Lake Street condominium late on the evening of Sunday, April 13, 2008.
Officer Mike Pichler testified Monday that he went to Yates’ after the twins’ mother, Susan Winbun, couldn’t get Yates to answer the door. Pichler said he had to awaken the 48-year-old Yates, who was on a bed, and had to lock him in a squad after Yates picked up scissors. Pichler then saw a foot under the bed and found the twins.