'Wanted to be with her children in death': Andrea Yates' attorney says Lindsay Clancy case is 'strikingly similar' to high-profile 2001 case
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DUXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS: Andrea Yates, a Texas mother, horrified the United States around two decades ago when she drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001. After hearing that Massachusetts nurse Lindsday Clancy had been charged with killing her three children on January 24 — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan — Yates' counsel at the time reflected on the notorious case.
Rumors contend Clancy suffered from postpartum depression, which is thought to have contributed to the tragedy. However, because she has never received a diagnosis, the defense has made claims concerning postpartum depression. There are also claims that Clancy attempted suicide but lived. She jumped out of a window after her children died, and is now a paraplegic. According to the prosecution, this attack was planned as a murder-suicide scheme, and she entered a not-guilty plea, as reported by MEAWW.
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What did Andrea Yates' attorney say?
Yates' 2001 attorney George Parnham describes the two cases as "strikingly similar," reports Law & Crime. He stated on the Law & Crime's Sidebar podcast, “When I read about [Clancy’s] case, I immediately thought of Andrea’s case." He recalled that Clancy had sent her husband out before strangling her children with workout cords, much as Yates had waited until her husband left for work before carrying out her plot to murder her children.
“The similarity is such that they both knew that the husband would stop them from doing what they were doing with the lives of the children,” Parnham said. “The husbands realized that … how idiotic it is that they would take the lives of those that they gave life to.” He continued, “And this is unlike any other type of homicide. This strikes at the very core of our own notions of who we are.”
According to Parnham, receiving a postpartum depression diagnosis is "basically insignificant," but the problem is "crucial." “This is a situation where no one can basically understand why a mother would take the life of a child,” Parnham explained. “And I would suggest to the attorneys that the first thing … is to contact an expert, get up to speed. The lawyers need to be educated by experts to be able to ask the right questions of the expert and make certain that the expert is so geared to talk in simplistic terms, to explain these things to not only the lawyer, but the eventual jury, because the jurors will look upon that individual as the individual that can guide them through this horrific situation.”
“It’s vitally important to understand postpartum, to get a grip on it,” Parnham added. “And ironically, mothers will understand the whole issue of postpartum because giving birth is not only a physical act, but it has an enormous mental impact on the mother. And as a consequence, and for instance Andrea’s case, in the case of this young woman, it’s something that we have to deal with.”
On the subject of premeditation, Parnham claimed that these crimes don't just occur and aren't "spur of the moment." These are circumstances that arise gradually, he added. He recalls Yates, who was said to have struggled in high school and to have gone through periods of being "absolutely silent." “And Lord knows what was going on in her mind at that particular period of time,” he continued.
But he added that Clancy's situation interests him since she leaped out the window. “For lawyers to take a look at that particular situation, it is not too far-fetched to believe that that mother wanted to be with her children in death,” Parnham noted. “And this is the reason why and plausible reason why she did what she did after the deaths of her children. [District attorneys] will try to find motives that they can rely upon to offset the mentally illness that will be presented by experts, defense experts, and convincing a jury to do the right thing.”
Rusty Yates and Patrick Clancy, the couple's husbands, both appeared to be caught off guard and had no idea such a catastrophe could occur in their families. Patrick even begged for his wife's forgiveness in a statement. “The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone — me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients,” Patrick Clancy wrote on a GoFundMe page. “The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace.”
What happened with Andrea Yates?
Yates was in a psychotic state, according to Parham, and he was adamant about keeping him off the witness stand. She believed that the likelihood of her children entering paradise was little if they were raised in a world of evil. “They would all be sent to hell if they were allowed to exist,” he recalled.
Yates was found guilty of capital murder and given a life sentence. The death penalty was sought by the prosecution, but the judgment was reversed. She was declared not guilty by reason of insanity in a subsequent trial; she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, and postpartum depression. Yates is currently residing at a Texas mental health facility.
