RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Andrea Faust, a North Carolina mother accused of killing her 3-year-old son and attempting to kill her 2-year-old, wants to pursue an insanity defense, creating the potential for another high-profile mental health case as the Lindsay Clancy case unfolds in Massachusetts.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, has been charged with the murder of her three children. Clancy is currently on trial for their deaths and the case has captured national attention as her defense rests on not guilty by reason of insanity. While the facts of the two cases differ significantly, both have centered on questions about severe mental illness, competency, criminal responsibility, and whether psychiatric disorders can absolve defendants of legal culpability.
Clancy's case has called attention to the lack of adequate maternal health care and the struggles women encounter postpartum. It's possible Faust's case will continue to shed a spotlight on different mental health issues as she heads to trial in October.
"Andrea and Lindsay’s cases are eerily similar, though not entirely the same," Nicole Gallinsky, Andrea's lawyer, told Newsweek. "Both women were known to be loving, doting, responsible mothers who were worried about and caring for their children up until the very-second they decided to kill them."
Newsweek reached out to the prosecutor's office for comment.
Faust, 41, is a Durham, North Carolina, mother charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder after authorities said they found her two children unresponsive inside the family's home on February 12, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek .
According to Durham police, officers responded to a home on Chartwell Court after reports of a medical emergency. Both children, Percy and Kenny, were transported to a hospital. Percy later died, while Kenny survived and was expected to recover, according to statements made in court by Faust's husband, Eric Faust.
The case quickly drew widespread attention after Eric described the incident in court as a severe mental health crisis rather than an act that reflected his wife's normal behavior. Eric praised Andrea as a mother and begged her in court not to harm herself for the sake of her family.
Court records show Andrea allegedly attempted suicide multiple times while in custody, including one incident that resulted in serious injuries requiring surgery. Authorities later said she was found hoarding Tylenol that officials believed she intended to use to harm herself.
In March, a judge ruled Faust was incapable of proceeding to trial and ordered her transferred to Central Regional Hospital in Butner, North Carolina, for inpatient psychiatric treatment and evaluation. The court found she posed a danger to herself and required intensive mental health care before criminal proceedings could continue.
On Tuesday, her attorney, Nicole Gallinsky, indicated they intend to pursue an insanity defense, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek. It signaled that Andrea's mental state at the time of the alleged crimes will likely become a central issue if the case ultimately reaches trial.
The insanity defense is rarely used and succeeds in only a small percentage of criminal cases. Generally, defendants must prove they suffered from a severe mental disease or defect that prevented them from understanding the nature or wrongfulness of their actions at the time the crimes were committed.
Gallinsky said the case can move forward once a psychiatrist from Central Regional Hospital is able to give their opinion on Andrea's state of mind.
Comparisons between Faust and Clancy have emerged because both cases involve mothers accused of killing or attempting to kill their children while defense teams point to serious mental health conditions.
Clancy's attorneys argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and could not appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions. Like Faust, Clancy allegedly attempted suicide after the deaths of her children, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
Gallinsky told Newsweek that Faust was suffering from psychosis—not postpartum psychosis like Clancy—at the time she killed her son. She said both women reached out to their own moms to come help because they recognized how terrible their intrusive thoughts had become, and both women didn't feel safe around their children. She said, like Clancy, Faust was having auditory hallucinations and was doing everything in "her power to ignore or make [them] go away."
"Both were psychiatrically hospitalized before the killings happened. Neither woman did this out of the blue. Both were struggling enormously with their mental health. But, like most women and almost-all moms, they were just trying to get through each day, care for their children, be a good mom/wife/employee. Both were seeking help from doctors who weren’t really taking their concerns seriously," Gallinsky said.
Faust was ruled competent to stand trial in May, but a July 29 report from Dr. Adrienne Saxton said at the time of the crime, she was "laboring under defect of reason from disease of the mind," and therefore "incapable of distinguishing right and wrong in relation to her acts."
The state asked the judge to compel a mental health evaluation of Andrea, which they said Gallinsky did not object to.
Both cases raise similar legal questions. Prosecutors in each matter must establish that the defendants were legally responsible for their actions. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, argue that severe mental illness impaired their ability to understand what they were doing or recognize it was wrong.
The broader public debate surrounding the cases has also highlighted concerns about access to mental health care for mothers experiencing psychiatric crises.
Mental health advocates...
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