Emergency Episode: Lindsay Clancy's Mistrial, Prison Overcrowding and Character References
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What is the emergency context that prompted this unscheduled episode?
Welcome to Law the Podcast. I'm Lex Lazary. I'm Greg Barnes. This is probably what you would call an emergency episode, Greg. No guest.
No guest. Uh on the phone from Hobart, dealing with technology.
Well, it's the exigencies of being media stars, Greg.
Well, you know, I I it's like being out on the in the trenches, you know, you radio in and uh but
anyway, we will grin and bear it. We will. Now I was I thought we'd start the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts. Only topical because after some weeks uh of deliberations or of trial and then deliberations The jury announced that they were unable to reach a verdict and were split eleven to one. The intelligence seems to be that the eleven were for acquittal and the one was for conviction. And the big issue in the trial was the fact of postpartum psychosis on the part of Lindsay Clancy, which means a psychiatric condition as a result of childbirth or the aftermath of childbirth. And it seems to have divided everyone who's followed the trial between those who think the mental health of um Lindsay Clancy is a try on and those who think this isn't a murder that occurred because she was never properly looked after in the first place.
Is Lindsay Clancy criminally responsible for the deaths of her three young children? Lindsay Clancy doesn't dispute carrying out the killings of five year old Cora three year old Dawson and eight month old Callan, before she jumped out of a second window floor. Prosecutors say she acted deliberately, but she's pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Her defense team argues that she was suffering from a severe postpartum mental illness, including psychosis, and was unable to understand the consequences of her actions.
We've been down this road before, Greg, with these sort of cases.
These cases are uh very difficult and tragic all round, but Yeah, it's a good example of where the law and science, particularly in the area of neuropsych and psychiatry, and the issue of whether or not somebody has free agency or free will are in issue. And I think as we develop forensic medicine and as we develop a greater understanding of the impact of uh what is often called I think antenatal depression, we are, I hope, getting to the view that uh some otherwise really decent people do something that's terrible.
Yeah. There's a lady who was quoted in this in today's age, Anita Link, who had also been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. So it's a a loss of contact with reality.
Why was a mistrial declared in the Lindsay Clancy murder case?
And she's making the point in today's paper that uh really it could have been her and it could be anyone who's suffering from this condition, uh, who is not being properly looked after. And I think part of the trouble is that a lot A lot of people simply don't recognise the condition and in turn a lot of people uh see it claimed and think as we discussed in our earlier episode with Tim Marsh, that these sort of things are just an excuse to commit violent crime.
Well, it's the same with PTSD. In the seventies and eighties and nineties, I don't think anyone had heard of PTSD, but of course it is now recognized as it should be, its impact on so many members of our community, particularly for example, the military who uh suffer on the battlefield, but also women who, you know, subject to terrible violence over the years. And I I don't think anyone should downplay it because I you know, you and I have acted for and you would have seen from the bench people whose lives are just broken as a result of uh PTSD.
Yeah, well it made me think back over uh the number of cases I've done, which are cases of philosophy, that is, cases where parents have killed their children. There's at least uh four that I did, including uh Robert Farquison, which is probably the most famous of them. And Akon uh Goad, who drowned her children in a lake. It's horrifying. And I mean they're traumatic cases. And I think the thing about these cases is that when people get involved in them, particularly the onlookers, I think the jury were probably doing the best they could, but the onlookers suddenly become very vocal and very judgmental about people in this rather rare and dangerous situation.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the emergency context that prompted this unscheduled episode?
0:03–2:46
2
Why was a mistrial declared in the Lindsay Clancy murder case?
2:46–6:46
3
How does postpartum psychosis affect criminal responsibility in the Clancy trial?
6:46–9:50
4
What are the legal arguments around free will and agency in mental‑health cases?
9:50–12:26
5
Why are politicians proposing citizen panels to review sentencing?
12:26–15:19
6
How severe is Australia’s prison overcrowding and what are the statistics?
15:19–18:13
7
What is the current debate over restricting character references in sentencing?
18:13–20:32
8
How do recent US Supreme Court decisions illustrate the politicisation of the judiciary?
20:32–23:11
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Australian True Crime
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