HOUSTON (AP) — Several of the jurors who voted to convict Andrea Yates of capital murder said the way she drowned her children in the family bathtub seemed premeditated and methodical.

In television interviews, the jurors described their decision last week to find Yates guilty in the June 20 deaths of three of the five children and recommend that she be sentenced to life in prison.

The jury's recommended sentence was expected to be formalized Monday by State District Judge Belinda Hill.

Juror Leona Baker told CBS' "The Early Show" that a "couple" of jurors initially voted for death, then the jury discussed it and became unanimous on the life sentence.

"I believed that she was not going to be a threat to society being in prison for the next 40 years of her life," she said.

On the NBC "Today" show Monday, juror Melissa Ryan said, "I think she should be punished for what she did considering she did know right from wrong and I think prison's the way to go."

A juror identified on NBC's "Dateline" as Jill, a social worker, said as Yates explained to police how she drowned the children, it seemed as if she was "thinking pretty clearly."

One of the jurors pointed to Yates' decision the night before to drown the children and the organized manner in which she went about holding each child beneath the water's surface before calling in the next.

When she finished, Yates called police.

"She was able to describe what she did ... I felt like she knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew it was wrong, or she would not have called the police," said a juror identified by "Dateline" as Roy, a math teacher.

The jurors on the Sunday broadcast of "Dateline" said they started by considering what they found to be the most compelling evidence — the videotaped confession to police and photographs of the children, alive and dead.

Yates could have faced the death penalty based on the two capital murder convictions for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7, John, 5, and 6-month-old Mary. Evidence also was presented about the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.

Yates, 37, will have to spend at least 40 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

The jurors said they believed Yates was mentally ill, an opinion shared by both the prosecution and the defense, but they also believed that she knew right from wrong — a key element in determining whether a defendant meets the legal definition of insanity.

"Andrea Yates, herself in her interviews, said she knew it was wrong in the eyes of society," Jill said. "She knew it was wrong in the eyes of God, and she knew it was illegal. And, you know, I don't know what wrong means if all those three things aren't factored in."

Roy, who has a 7-year-old daughter, said the children's deaths were a greater factor than Yates' mental illness during deliberations.

"A lot of people want you to have sympathy for her and feel sorry for her," said Roy. "And that's OK, but you cannot forget those children."

Yates had been treated for schizophrenia and severe depression after the births of her last two children.

Yates' husband, Russell, told "The Early Show" that "I think I have to" sue those responsible for her medical care. He contends that she was wrongly taken off antipsychotic medication before the killings.

"She was never diagnosed, she was never treated and they didn't protect our family," he said.