YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Дело Линдси Клэнси: почему присяжные зашли в тупик?

Дело Линдси Клэнси: почему присяжные зашли в тупик? — Transcript

by Виолетта Макеева · 7,310 words · 1,149 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00For 6 weeks, we have been following the
0:03trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother who
0:06took the lives of her three young
0:08children using exercise bands and then
0:11tried to leave this world herself.
0:14Yesterday, the jury admitted that they
0:16could not reach an agreement. The judge
0:19declared a mistrial, meaning the case
0:21ended in nothing, and now the
0:23prosecution is deciding whether to
0:25start over with a different jury. Hi,
0:28my name is Violetta Makeeva. You know
0:30me as the creator of the best
0:31breakdowns on YouTube. And in this
0:33podcast, I will explain why this
0:36mistrial, this failed case, happened
0:38not only in court but also in the minds
0:41and hearts of many people, including
0:43mine. Today, I am going to propose the
0:46following. I will try to paint a
0:49psychological portrait of Lindsay, then
0:52walk through all the steps the jury
0:55took to reach a verdict, and we will
0:57see what we conclude. But first, a
1:01brief look at how the process reached a
1:03deadlock. Deliberations began on
1:05Thursday, August 27th. Twelve people,
1:09nine women and three men, locked
1:11themselves in a room with five weeks of
1:13testimony and fifty witnesses. And
1:16three hundred pieces of physical
1:18evidence. Over 7 days, they spent about
1:2140 hours there and asked the judge only
1:23one substantive question. They asked
1:26for the knife Lindsay used to try to
1:28take her own life and the medicine
1:30bottles. After that, the judge began
1:34receiving notes from the jurors stating
1:36that they could not agree. The judge
1:38sent them back twice. The second time
1:42with a special instruction, which can
1:44be briefly summarized as: "Go and
1:47decide; a better, more competent group
1:49of people to resolve this case does not
1:52exist." But on Thursday, the jury
1:55foreperson handed the judge a note that
1:58caused everything to fall apart.
2:01Allegedly, one juror was not following
2:04the instructions for reaching a
2:06decision. And because of that, he alone
2:09was blocking everything and preventing
2:11a verdict. What exactly are these
2:13instructions? We are going to talk
2:14about that right now. Lindsay's
2:16attorney immediately demanded that this
2:18person be removed and replaced by an
2:19alternate. The judge refused, as it was
2:23impossible to determine if this juror
2:25was truly ignoring instructions or if
2:27it was simply his conviction, which
2:30cannot be pressured. Judging by the
2:33defense attorney's behavior, some of
2:34the jurors were ready to acquit Lindsay
2:36. Although we don't know that for sure.
2:39And only one, despite all the pressure
2:41applied to him, did not agree with this
2:44. We know that this dissenting juror is
2:47one of the three men. On Friday morning
2:50, a third note arrived from the jury.
2:52With heavy hearts, we inform you that
2:55we are unable to reach a unanimous
2:57decision and will not be able to. The
3:00judge declared a mistrial, meaning the
3:03case has been ruled a failure. The
3:06defense attorney, just as throughout
3:08this entire trial, fought like a lion,
3:10appealed to the Supreme Court, and
3:12tried to find any possible openings for
3:14Lindsay—for instance, to poll the
3:16jurors to see if they had perhaps
3:18reached a unanimous decision that she
3:20was not guilty of first-degree murder,
3:22so they wouldn't have to start all over
3:24again later. But the Supreme Court
3:28refused, and on Friday afternoon, the
3:30jury was finally brought into the
3:32courtroom and dismissed. Let’s take a
3:35step back now and look at why
3:37Lindsay’s case gained worldwide
3:40notoriety. The story of mothers killing
3:43their children is, unfortunately, not
3:46that rare. But in this case, the trial
3:50received a lot of public attention,
3:52despite similar cases in the same state
3:55, because Lindsay is a woman whom many
3:58women can identify with. By all formal
4:02criteria and the testimonies of
4:04colleagues and loved ones, she falls
4:06into the category of an excellent
4:09mother. She has a respectable
4:11profession. She is a labor and delivery
4:13nurse, a job she is dedicated to. She
4:15even named her eldest daughter after
4:18the first infant she delivered. From
4:20her youth, she dreamed of a large
4:22family and achieved that goal. In
4:24general, just like all the others she
4:26set for herself. She is religious and
4:29practices the Catholic faith, but in
4:31moderation, without fanaticism. She has
4:33a good relationship with her husband.
4:35Even despite what happened, he publicly
4:38forgave her and urged others to forgive
4:41her too. And they both filed a lawsuit
4:44against the medical system that failed
4:46to help Lindsay. Meaning that even
4:49despite this monstrous tragedy, they
4:51remained in somewhat of a partnership
4:54even after the fact. And yes,
4:57Lindsay’s interaction with the
5:00medical system was appalling. Over the
5:03four months while her condition was
5:05deteriorating, she was prescribed over
5:08a dozen drugs, including powerful ones.
5:10The specialists who consulted her did
5:13not study her medical history. She
5:15searched for help and information
5:18herself, googling in private groups for
5:21mothers. According to Patrick’s
5:24testimony, he called dozens of
5:26therapists, but there wasn't a single
5:29opening for a mother in crisis. It even
5:33got to the point where she had to
5:35schedule her own outpatient follow-up
5:37after an emergency hospitalization due
5:39to her worsening condition. In short,
5:43she was left almost entirely on her own
5:46with huge responsibility and strain,
5:49all while her condition worsened and
5:51without proper help. This is where
5:54Lindsay’s situation resonated with
5:57millions, perhaps, one could say, of
6:00women around the world. The defense
6:03argued that Lindsay committed the
6:05murders while in a state of postpartum
6:07psychosis, a condition that is
6:09treacherously understudied. Even though
6:13not all women face this, the feelings
6:15and the state of a woman who is the
6:18mother of an infant, who has two other
6:20children to care for, and who, after
6:22only a few weeks of maternity leave,
6:25has to go back to work, are
6:26understandable to very many. Under the
6:31videos about Lindsay's trial, women are
6:34actively sharing their bitter
6:36experiences: how everyone in their
6:39family wanted children, but once the
6:41baby arrived, they left the woman alone
6:44with them, without proper help or
6:46support; how husbands continued to live
6:49their best lives while they were going
6:52crazy from sleep deprivation; and how
6:56the women themselves noticed oddities
6:59in their behavior and terrifying
7:01thoughts, yet also received no help or
7:03support. Also, a certain number of
7:07women after such incidents cannot tell
7:10us anything because their attempts to
7:13end their lives ended in fatality. But
7:17Lindsay survived; however, she is
7:19paralyzed from the waist down and she
7:21is suffering. And for society, this is
7:24finally an opportunity to talk about
7:25the problems of those who haven't
7:27killed anyone. But you can't say that
7:29no one ever thought about it. As I have
7:33already mentioned, the process of
7:35proving the murder itself was skipped
7:37within the trial. But in reality, all
7:40the evidence for this charge existed.
7:44It just wasn't shown to the public,
7:46since the murder itself was not
7:48disputed, and the prosecution didn't
7:50need to prove it. The point of
7:52discussion was only the degree of
7:53responsibility. Therefore, a conspiracy
7:55theory line immediately emerged. Well,
7:58in the sense of, did Lindsay even kill
8:00her children at all? Numerous
8:02alternative investigations immediately
8:04sprang up online, and it's not hard to
8:07guess who became the main suspect. Of
8:10course, her husband, Patrick. They said
8:12that he killed them and then pushed her
8:14out of the window. Either he drove her
8:17to attempt suicide, or in a milder
8:19version, he simply convinced her that
8:22she had done it herself. They picked a
8:25motive to their liking. A new woman, a
8:28desire to avoid paying alimony, or
8:30money from the crowdfunding campaign,
8:32which a family friend organized shortly
8:35after the tragedy, resulting in over a
8:37million dollars raised in a few days to
8:40help the family. Social media sleuths
8:44found a mass of evidence, starting with
8:47boots, which are different in the
8:49restaurant camera footage, while the
8:51ones from the pharmacy seem to be other
8:54boots. Meaning he stopped by home to
8:57change his shoes, that Lindsay's body
8:59temperature upon admission was too low
9:02for just half an hour in the cold,
9:04meaning she lay under the window much
9:06longer than he claims, that the person
9:08on the pharmacy camera isn't Patrick at
9:10all, but his friend who testified. And
9:13further, the lack of fingerprints on
9:15the exerciser and knife, crushed pills
9:17that Patrick allegedly drugged her with
9:20. Some kind of weird voice in the 911
9:23call, which in fact no one heard
9:25because Patrick asked not to release
9:28this recording, his poses on the stand,
9:31and, of course, not least, his
9:34remarriage. But, by the way, two years
9:37ago there were other conspiracy
9:39theories. First, that the couple staged
9:42everything for the money. And another
9:44one, that Lindsay caught her husband
9:47with a male lover and killed the
9:48children out of revenge. But now they
9:51have been replaced by new ones. All the
9:55conspiracy theories started after
9:56Patrick's two days of testimony in
9:58court in July, which had taken place.
10:01And in one poll, over 120,000 people
10:03were immediately convinced of Patrick's
10:06guilt. And it's also clear that the
10:09public anger poured out on him for a
10:11reason. A husband, as the main partner
10:14and co-parent of the children, should
10:17have done something to ease his wife's
10:20situation or get her the right help.
10:24When your wife complains to you for
10:26months about thoughts of taking her own
10:28life, would you really just leave
10:30everything as it is? Or even when she
10:34says that she had thoughts of harming
10:36her own children? Would you really just
10:40leave her alone with the kids like that
10:41? I mean, how insensitive and
10:45indifferent of a brute, forgive me, do
10:48you have to be to calmly go work on
10:50another floor while your wife is
10:53literally losing her mind and left
10:55alone with three small children, all
10:58while thinking about harming them—
11:01your children, by the way? But Patrick
11:05also took a lot of heat for starting a
11:07new relationship and subsequently
11:09getting married. Well, he started this
11:13relationship quite soon after the
11:16tragedy. And it's possible they even
11:18overlapped with his marriage. This
11:20version is also mentioned because the
11:22tragedy happened at the end of January
11:24three years ago. In May, that is, three
11:27months later, Patrick moved to New York
11:29, and his current wife lives in New
11:32York. According to the official version
11:34, they met there and got together much
11:36later. So it is not proven that he
11:38moved to New York specifically for her
11:41three months later. But nevertheless,
11:44Patrick does not fit the image of a
11:46deeply grieving husband, if only
11:49because of the proven fact of a leisure
11:52trip he took two weeks after the
11:54children's funeral. I mean, the earth
11:58hadn't even settled over their little
12:00caskets, and he had already gone off to
12:02clear his head in Costa Rica and Europe
12:04. And people even suspected it was on
12:06money raised through crowdfunding. And
12:09he had a good vacation, because in his
12:11reviews he writes what a wonderful trip
12:13it was. At the same time, Lindsay's
12:15condition—the tragedy occurred at the
12:18end of January—had begun to
12:20deteriorate back in the fall. And it
12:22was in the fall that he already
12:24traveled to New York, allegedly on
12:26business. Therefore, once again,
12:29conspiracy theorists concluded that the
12:32relationship with this woman, his new
12:34wife, existed back then, although, I
12:37repeat, this is not confirmed. But one
12:41way or another, Patrick's behavior
12:43makes it look like he distanced himself
12:45from responsibility for what was
12:47happening with his wife and,
12:49consequently, the children. But here is
12:52something else that is important.
12:53Lindsay talked about her severe
12:55condition not only to her husband, but
12:58also to relatives, her mother and
13:00sister, to whom she was very close. Two
13:04months before the tragedy, Lindsay
13:06wrote to her sister, who is a social
13:08worker, that she was in a very dark
13:11place, depressed, felt numb and
13:13hopeless, that she had severe insomnia,
13:15thoughts of suicide every day, and she
13:18described a severe reaction to her
13:20medication. To her mother. She had been
13:24writing about her severe condition
13:26since late October. And her mother
13:28regularly came to visit Lindsay to help
13:30. She stayed with her for days and even
13:33weeks at a time. And yes, women also
13:35write in comments en masse that with
13:38the arrival of a baby they felt lonely
13:41and even betrayed by their husbands,
13:43and sometimes by other family members,
13:46because no one really wanted to
13:49understand their condition. Why?
13:52Because for others, it would have
13:54threatened to change their usual way of
13:56life. Who knows what might happen if
13:59they had to intervene, if they suddenly
14:01had to help, take charge of the child,
14:03or share the responsibilities. That is,
14:06in words, they might be supportive, and
14:09perhaps even in some actions, but only
14:11to the extent that the mother didn't
14:13collapse and could continue to pull
14:15this load on her own. But actually, in
14:19Lindsay's case, you cannot directly say
14:21that this was the case. Even regarding
14:24Patrick, after their youngest son was
14:26born, he took paternity leave, then
14:28switched to working from home to be
14:30near Lindsay during the day when she
14:32decided in the fall to postpone
14:34returning to work. And she felt an
14:37escalation of anxiety with each of her
14:39children whenever she had to go back to
14:41work. The arrival of the youngest was
14:44no exception. In short, he supported
14:47her decision not to return, and they
14:50saved money so they could live on his
14:52salary. At some point, when her
14:55insomnia didn't go away, he even began
14:58attending her video appointments with
15:00her psychiatrist. And, according to him
15:04, he called more than a dozen
15:06therapists, but no one had any
15:08availability. And on December 31st,
15:11when she said she was no longer able to
15:14be in this world, that her own thoughts
15:16were scaring her, he took her to the ER
15:19, and the next day she checked into a
15:21hospital. Then, when she was discharged
15:25and became afraid to drive, he, along
15:27with the grandmother, accordingly
15:29picked the children up from daycare. So
15:33, all of this together gives us an
15:36understanding that you cannot say
15:38Lindsay's family, including her husband
15:40, didn't help her at all. But it does
15:44seem like they didn't want to take full
15:47responsibility. That is, when she asked
15:50for help, to take over some tasks, for
15:51her mother to come, they did those
15:53things. Well, for example, when she
15:56admitted that she wanted to harm her
15:58children, Patrick asked her: "Well, is
16:00it even safe to leave you with the
16:02children?" She said: "Yes, it is." So,
16:04he left her. So, she said that she
16:07needed a therapist. He started calling
16:09around. No one had any open slots. Well
16:12, there are no openings. What now? It's
16:15as if Linsey is the business owner, and
16:18her relatives are like hired employees.
16:22You gave them a task, and they
16:24performed the task. "Well, we called,
16:27but couldn't get through.""Even if you
16:30die, find a solution"—that’s a
16:32business owner’s attitude toward
16:35tasks. But for them, it's: "You told us
16:39to call, we called, but we couldn't get
16:41through." For dividing responsibility
16:44between a business owner and employees,
16:46the situation is clear. But between a
16:49father and mother, for example, or
16:51members of the same family, the
16:53situation becomes more complicated. And
16:56why did none of them want to share the
17:00responsibility with Linsey? Because
17:03finding a therapist is just an
17:06instrumental task. I mean, what does it
17:09mean that there was no opening? That in
17:12the entire world, no therapists had an
17:14opening. And this understanding of the
17:18ambiguity of these relationships is
17:20impossible without clarifying how
17:22Linsey's personality was structured. In
17:26my hypothesis, naturally, the
17:29prosecution initially labeled Linsey as
17:32extremely controlling, meticulous, and
17:35manipulative. By the end of the trial,
17:39they changed their wording somewhat,
17:41but "controlling, meticulous,
17:43manipulative"—that was the language
17:45of the prosecution. As if these are
17:47things people actually choose as part
17:50of their character, as part of their
17:53personality. But despite the fact that
17:56the prosecution used these terms
17:59negatively, as, to put it bluntly, a
18:01reproach to Linsey, I agree with them
18:04that Linsey was, by nature, a
18:06controller. Control is generally a
18:09defense mechanism, a tool with which a
18:12person protects themselves from things
18:14going wrong. For some reason, they fear
18:17this very deeply. And why do they fear
18:20it? Because if something goes wrong,
18:23they will believe it is their fault and
18:26that they are bad. In other words, such
18:30a person feels that they are solely
18:32responsible for the outcome of
18:33everything that happens in their life.
18:36That is why they don't trust other
18:39people and control them, because they
18:41are afraid that they will mess up, and
18:43they will be the one feeling guilty.
18:47Deep inside, a controller experiences a
18:50massive sense of their own inadequacy.
18:53Every time things do not go the way
18:55they would like to see them go. And
18:58because there is so much of this guilt
19:01in them, they keep trying, trying, and
19:03trying to do something to finally
19:06become a worthy person and stop feeling
19:08that way. And they construct grandiose
19:13life projects aimed specifically at
19:16solving that problem. And a vicious
19:19cycle arises. The worse a person feels,
19:23the more they pile onto themselves. The
19:27more they pile onto themselves, the
19:29worse they cope. The worse they cope,
19:31the more of a piece of [ __ ], excuse my
19:33language, they feel like. The worse
19:36they feel, the more they pile on, and
19:38so on and so forth. So it all winds up
19:41into this kind of spiral. From the very
19:43beginning, a large family was Lindsay's
19:46dream. She planned to have children,
19:50she joked about a football team, as a
19:53project that would allow her to feel
19:56like a worthy person. And she began its
20:01realization consistently, with great
20:04enthusiasm and diligence; according to
20:07her friend, she chose her husband to
20:10fulfill this goal, looking specifically
20:13for a good family man. And here, I am
20:18not sure that Patrick himself actually
20:21wanted a large family. Actually, I
20:25don't really understand what his
20:27desires were, because, in fact, a
20:30controller doesn't really need a
20:32partner. They need a person who will
20:36strictly carry out their instructions.
20:40And, accordingly, Patrick was a person
20:42who was ready to carry out instructions
20:44precisely. And if Lindsay's
20:47instructions were "be a good family man
20:49, we will have many children, a
20:51football team.""That will be our
20:54family's life strategy." Patrick, well,
20:57he sort of accepted and agreed. In
21:00general, Lindsay's whole life was built
21:03around her vision of how things should
21:06be done, and others were required to
21:09carry them out exactly. I mentioned in
21:13my stream that she wrote notes for the
21:17nanny: the child must be put to bed at
21:209:35 and woken up at 16:30, and
21:23vegetables must be diced. If you're
21:27interested, watch the stream; I'll
21:29leave a link in the comments, where I
21:30cover this in detail. And on the day of
21:33the murder, Patrick, as always, was
21:35precisely following Lindsay's orders.
21:38She told him which restaurant to go to,
21:41which pharmacy to visit, which medicine
21:44to buy, and tracked how much time it
21:46would take. And these little details
21:50very clearly characterize the
21:52distribution of responsibility between
21:55them. That is, Lindsay is the author of
21:58the projects, goals, and tasks, while
22:01Patrick is the executor. As a rule,
22:03controllers are formed in families with
22:06a similar structure. There, too, in the
22:08family system, there is usually one
22:10person who is also a controller, who
22:12worries for everyone and is responsible
22:14for everything, and a second, more
22:16passive one. This one, by nature,
22:18called and couldn't get through. I
22:20assume that the controller in Lindsay's
22:23family was the father, and the mother
22:25was of a more passive nature. That is,
22:29she doesn't refuse help, she is
22:31accommodating, but she is also more of
22:33an executor than a full-fledged partner
22:36in resolving a situation. And yes, a
22:39controller, as a rule, always has some
22:42kind of super-idea. It doesn’t
22:45necessarily have to be motherhood; it
22:47could be social work, business,
22:49professional or scientific achievements
22:51, gardening, raw foodism—it doesn't
22:54matter. And they pull everyone into
22:58this "super-idea," because this is a
23:01person of immense strength and
23:03endurance. Let’s look at the
23:05structures of their psyche and what
23:08feeds it. On one hand, they have a fear
23:10of guilt and of being "bad," which
23:12constantly generates anxiety, and
23:14therefore, adrenaline. And layered on
23:17top of that is a certain super-idea,
23:19through which they hope to alleviate
23:21this anxiety. This means dopamine is
23:24generated. And on this cocktail, they
23:27can work tirelessly without limits. And
23:30they believe in their super-idea
23:32religiously. That is why this is a
23:35person of extreme emotional
23:37persuasiveness, yet at the same time,
23:40they are very smart and extremely
23:42prudent, because that anxiety pushes
23:45them to constantly calculate options.
23:48And while others are caught napping,
23:50the controller has already calculated
23:51everything and lined everyone up. But
23:55they do not like people equal to them
23:57in strength who could oppose them, and
24:00they push such people out of their
24:03circle. They don’t need them. Well,
24:07imagine a situation. A wife tells her
24:09husband she wants to get a dog, and he
24:11says, "No, I don't want that under any
24:13circumstances." Well, just a typical
24:15conflict of interest. But if dog
24:17ownership happens to be the idea that
24:20the psyche of the controller—the wife
24:23in this case—invented to get rid of
24:26deep-seated guilt or a sense of
24:28inferiority, then there is absolutely
24:31no chance that anyone could oppose this
24:35will. I repeat, the psychological fuel
24:38these people run on gives them colossal
24:40work capacity. The branching, complex
24:44mind they develop while calculating
24:47scenarios A through D leaves other
24:49people no chance to compete with them.
24:53And therefore, returning to the
24:55phrasing of the initial accusation,
24:58where they describe Lancy as a
25:01manipulative person, also blaming her
25:04for it, I am also inclined to agree.
25:08Only, once again, I cannot hold it
25:10against her because I understand how it
25:12is structured. She really has been
25:14leading not only her family members but
25:17also the medical system by the nose for
25:19many long months. Because she created
25:22her circle from people who are ready to
25:25carry out her will. You can even see
25:28the nanny she chose, who is prepared to
25:31follow every single millimeter of her
25:33instructions. The family was raised the
25:37same way. And the medical system has
25:39this specific feature: any medical
25:42system, in principle, doesn't really
25:44care about patients on a global level.
25:47I have lived in several countries with
25:49both insurance-based and state-funded
25:51medicine, on different continents, all
25:53structured differently. Well, the
25:56quality of patients 'lives is not the
25:59priority in any medical system. It is
26:03quite indifferent to that particular
26:05task. It has its own goals; it must
26:08exist as a system. And doctors there
26:11are guided by the requirements of the
26:13system to a greater extent than by the
26:15interests of the patient. So, there are
26:17standards that you can't spend more
26:19than a certain amount of time on a
26:21patient. Doctors adhere to them. There
26:24are protocols they must follow when
26:26prescribing treatments. Doctors
26:28prescribe accordingly. There is also
26:30private medicine. It has different
26:32goals. In this case, it's profit
26:35generation. There, too, these goals
26:38don't fully align with the patient's
26:41interests. Therefore, yes, the system
26:45was indifferent to Lindsay, and the
26:48specialists behaved quite irresponsibly
26:51, not even reviewing her medical
26:53history. But Lindsay herself
26:56contributed to this as well. That is,
26:59after every flare-up, she would write
27:01to her mother that she was feeling
27:03better. Her mother would later say that
27:05she didn't actually see any improvement
27:07. She just wanted to encourage Lindsay.
27:09She might have actually wanted to
27:11encourage herself, but nonetheless. So
27:13Lindsay calls her mother for help, and
27:16then tells her: "No, no, no, I'm fine
27:19now." She complains to her husband and
27:21mother that she is thinking about
27:22harming the children, but then
27:23immediately claims that she can be left
27:25with them. She convinces the medical
27:28staff; they admitted her to a clinic,
27:30she didn't like it there, and she
27:32managed to convince the medical staff
27:34that she was better, that she was a
27:36medical professional herself, and that
27:38she understood the drugs they were
27:40prescribing. And in general, she took
27:42them and stopped taking them at her own
27:44discretion. So, Lindsay really did give
27:48people selective information and
27:50allowed them to act selectively, but
27:53not because she was a conscious
27:55manipulator who wanted to exploit
27:57others, but out of distrust that they
27:59would do it correctly. So, yes, was
28:03there indifference and a certain
28:05permissiveness in the medical system?
28:07Absolutely, but Lindsay was also
28:09leading them by the nose. Was there an
28:11unwillingness to fully share
28:13responsibility for the children with
28:14Lindsay? For example, with Patrick? Yes
28:16. Well, what is this? She called, he
28:18couldn't get through, yes, that
28:20happened. But Lindsay built their
28:23relationship from the very beginning so
28:25that she would determine and control
28:27everything. Could the doctors have
28:30insisted and kept Lindsay in the
28:32hospital, not believing that she had
28:34gotten better and had no thoughts of
28:37harming herself or anyone else? No. She
28:40would have convinced them anyway, and
28:44everyone would have done as she wanted.
28:49After all, a day before the tragedy,
28:51she told her psychiatrist that
28:53everything was fine. Does that remind
28:56you of anything? Personally, it reminds
29:00me of the psychology of people addicted
29:03, for example, to psychoactive
29:05substances, who are also capable of
29:07convincing anyone. For instance, that
29:11they are no longer using. And only
29:13experienced, hardened rehab staff know
29:16that they cannot be trusted. But let's
29:20be clear. Comparing a controller to
29:24someone using psychoactive substances
29:27is incorrect. Although the
29:30psychological structure of these
29:32mechanisms partially overlaps, because
29:35the controller's hyper-activity is just
29:38as much a psychoactive substance for
29:41their psyche. And for the sake of
29:43maintaining contact with them, they are
29:46ready for a lot, if not for everything.
29:48But why is it incorrect to compare?
29:50Well, because after all, a controller
29:52is a productive person. As a result, a
29:55huge burden of responsibility falls on
29:58them, which they are unable to share
30:00with anyone. Yes, they can delegate a
30:03small piece, while clearly formulating
30:06an instruction, they can ask for help,
30:09they can hand over some task, but they
30:12cannot share the responsibility,
30:14because for everything bad that happens
30:17in their life, or anything that went
30:20wrong, as I already said, they feel
30:22personal guilt—that's how they were
30:25raised. And such people pair up with
30:28those who also have difficulties with
30:31guilt and responsibility, but whose
30:34initiative is blocked. And for their
30:37psyche, it is safe to go along with
30:40someone else's desires, because there
30:42is no need to overcome this internal
30:45barrier when initiative is blocked. And
30:48the responsibility is sort of always on
30:50the other person. That is, you are also
30:52free from feelings of guilt. And so,
30:55you get such a complementary symbiosis.
30:59How often do we find that people who
31:01form couples often share a common
31:04trauma and different complementary
31:06defense mechanisms. And Patrick and
31:09Lindsay are exactly such a couple. But
31:12there are situations when a controller
31:15loses control. And this is usually a
31:18combination of the load and the
31:20consequences of incorrectly made
31:22decisions, from which the load only
31:24grows. And such a loss of control
31:27almost always ends in a collapse.
31:30It’s just that there is usually no
31:31such scale. And inside this skewed
31:33structure, everyone feels bad. Striving
31:36with all their might to avoid this
31:38personal guilt, to do everything
31:40perfectly, the controller still ends up
31:42being guilty. And those people who were
31:45beside them, avoiding responsibility,
31:48will still sooner or later face the
31:50need to carry it when the controller
31:53collapses. And in fact, I believe that
31:57a few weeks after the funeral, when
32:00Patrick went on a trip, he was truly
32:03happy there. But again, not because he
32:07is a bad person. I think that in the
32:11last six months before the tragedy,
32:13when Lindsay was getting worse and
32:14worse, he was also exhausted. I don’t
32:18rule out that when it all happened, he
32:20felt relief, because it was at least
32:22some kind of way out. I can understand
32:25that he, perhaps for the first time in
32:29years, felt some pleasure in life on
32:31that vacation, despite the fact that he
32:35had lost his children a few weeks prior
32:38. And his wife was disabled and under
32:40investigation. I think that’s why it
32:43was also easy for him to forgive
32:45Lindsay. At the cost of a monstrous
32:47loss, he broke free from a dead end.
32:50But here is the problem. Look at who is
32:53currently by Patrick's side. Rachel
32:56Dennis. She is a fertility doctor,
32:58which is who delivered Patrick’s
33:01mother. Lindsay delivered the babies.
33:04Rachel also has training in obstetrics
33:06and gynecology. And something tells me
33:09that this is not just a coincidence and
33:12that there is a reason Patrick's
33:15romance might have developed so hastily
33:17. I think that after getting out of
33:21this Lindsay situation, on one hand, he
33:23very quickly felt relief, but on the
33:26other hand, he just as quickly found
33:29himself without his usual support. And
33:32I don't rule out that his new woman,
33:34Rachel Dennis, is also a controller.
33:37Just of a slightly different type.
33:39Perhaps her "super-idea" is not in
33:41motherhood, but in something else. But
33:44I wouldn't be surprised. If he, having
33:48gotten out of this impasse—well, you
33:51can't say Lindsay drove them into it,
33:54but one they found themselves in with
33:57Lindsay—felt both relief and lostness
34:00, and simply entered into new,
34:03structurally similar relationships.
34:06Another interesting point. Lindsay's
34:09parents are currently living on money
34:10from donations from Lindsay's
34:12supporters. That is, they are now
34:15living in hotels near the location
34:17where the court hearings are taking
34:19place in order to visit their daughter
34:21daily. And over 30,000 people raised
34:25over a million dollars for them in 10
34:28days, and the stated goal is 2 million.
34:33That is, isolated in a wheelchair.
34:37Lindsay still, symbolically, but still
34:40continues to determine the life
34:42direction of her family members,
34:45current and former. Patrick started a
34:49fund with his sisters, which is
34:51supposed to help the parents cope with
34:53the aftermath of postpartum psychosis.
34:57The parents are now living on money
34:59from donations from Lindsay's
35:01supporters. And yes, such is the fate
35:03of a controller. To shoulder everything
35:07, burn out, but even after a total
35:11collapse, still leave behind as many
35:14problems as benefits, upon which many
35:18people often subsist. I repeat, these
35:22are people of colossal strength and
35:25productivity who first rush full speed
35:27ahead, and then fall into the abyss.
35:31Unable to carry what they have piled
35:33onto themselves, and unable to survive
35:35what they have wreaked. Because,
35:38despite their intelligence, work
35:40capacity, and that frantic energy
35:43fueled by the cocktail we already
35:45discussed, they are psychologically
35:47quite fragile, and it is also not easy
35:49for the people around them. On one hand
35:53, they don't really let you help them,
35:55and on the other hand, you feel like
35:57you have to help them. And on the third
36:01hand, by helping, you are doing a
36:03disservice, because helping a
36:06controller means delaying the
36:08inevitable collapse that they must one
36:11day encounter. And the sooner a
36:14controller hits this collapse, the
36:16safer they and everyone around them
36:18will be. But from the outside, this
36:21will look like betrayal, a refusal of
36:23support, abandonment in a time of need,
36:25and so on. That is, had Lindsay's
36:28family refused to help her back at the
36:31stage of the second child, she would
36:33have had no choice but to stop piling
36:36things onto herself and moving toward
36:39this "soccer team" goal. And it turns
36:43out that the more resources a
36:45controller is given, the more they
36:47direct them toward their super-idea,
36:49and the stronger, as a rule, is the
36:52subsequent explosion and destruction of
36:54everything they built with such
36:56colossal effort but later could not
36:59sustain. Is the controller even aware
37:02of their own actions? After all, the
37:04question of awareness was the key one
37:07during the trial, wasn't it? Well, to
37:09exactly the same extent that an addict
37:12—forgive me once again for this not
37:14entirely accurate comparison—is aware
37:17of their dependency. That is, seemingly
37:19yes, but consciousness covers its
37:21tracks and projects this conviction to
37:24oneself and others that everything is
37:26going as it should, everything is going
37:29to plan. Because even when faced with
37:32these extreme problems, Lindsay
37:34continued to plan for a fourth child.
37:37So, mental state is one thing, and the
37:40super-idea is another. The latter is
37:43sacred. So Lindsay's problem wasn't
37:45that there was no one to help her. For
37:48example, Patrick is accused of letting
37:50go of the nanny they hired in the
37:52summer for when Lindsay went back to
37:54work. But I am 100%sure that this
37:57decision was made by Lindsay, just like
37:58all the other decisions. I even assume
38:02that she let the nanny go with relief,
38:04knowing she could now do everything
38:06herself and control everything related
38:09to the children. And what happens? If
38:12there isn't a person near the
38:15controller who can stand up to them, so
38:18to speak, shake them up, and show them
38:21that something is wrong, then the only
38:25person who can help the controller is
38:28themselves. The problem is that when
38:32Lindsay tried to treat herself—and
38:34she did try to treat herself by
38:36supposedly asking for help, while
38:38actually just assigning tasks to
38:40everyone, relatives, her husband,
38:42doctors—it was already too late; she
38:45was already in too bad a state. And she
38:48didn't even want to change, as she
38:50writes in her diary. She just wanted to
38:52sleep, to be happy, and to love her
38:54children. That is, Lindsay had no
38:57understanding that something might be
38:59wrong with her psychological mechanisms
39:01. And the problem is that the children
39:06could not be the people who could fit
39:09into Lindsay's system, who wouldn't
39:11contradict her and would strictly
39:14follow her instructions, and as a
39:16result, disappointment built up inside
39:19her. That is, she writes in her diary
39:23about how many of her expectations were
39:25not met. In other words, the children
39:28weren't letting her be the kind of good
39:30mother she wanted—or rather, felt she
39:32had—to be. They weren't interacting
39:35with each other the way she needed them
39:36to. The older ones made it hard for her
39:39to enjoy the youngest one's infancy.
39:41The youngest wasn't developing at the
39:43right age level, and the middle one was
39:44hitting a crisis. Basically, the
39:46children were supposed to be the
39:48solution to her psychological
39:49challenges. Instead, they became an
39:52aggravation of her problems. And on the
39:53day of the murder, as we remember,
39:55nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
39:58Just the day before, Lindsay told her
39:59psychiatrist that she was doing just
40:01fine. She and Patrick exchanged cute
40:04photos of the kids, and he told her she
40:07was a great mother. And that evening,
40:09as usual, Lindsay gave her husband
40:11clear instructions. She texted him that
40:13it had been a long day and that she
40:15hadn't cooked anything. But even in
40:17that state, she didn't just say, "Buy
40:19something for dinner." She gave him a
40:22specific restaurant she had picked
40:24herself and then monitored how long the
40:27drive would take. And yes, that also
40:30became fuel for conspiracy theories,
40:33but in reality, it fits the nature of
40:35Lindsay and Patrick's dynamic quite
40:37well. I think there was a combination
40:42of factors where the children all acted
40:45out at once, in ways that didn't serve
40:48her needs for these tasks of hers.
40:52Since they sent the husband for
40:54medicine, it meant the eldest daughter
40:56was struggling; her stomach hurt. The
40:59middle son was in the midst of a
41:00three-year-old crisis. She couldn't
41:02give the youngest enough attention, and
41:04back in the fall, she’d already
41:06written that he wasn't hitting his
41:07milestones, which upset her. And in
41:10short, I think she suddenly collapsed
41:13into this feeling of being a worthless
41:16mother and decided to end her life. And
41:20theirs as well, because if she wouldn't
41:22exist in this world, then her projects
41:25certainly wouldn't either. So, they
41:28didn't cope, all of them, all at once.
41:32Of course, had she not been so severely
41:34exhausted, and had her psychological
41:36makeup not been tortured by incorrect
41:39treatment, this tragedy would not have
41:41occurred. But the fact that this trap
41:45eventually formed, leading to all these
41:48factors turning against the unfortunate
41:51woman, was embedded in her personality
41:54structure. And it is a huge tragedy,
41:59because, I repeat, Lindsay is not a bad
42:01person. In her consciousness, in her
42:05psyche, this trap exists. And to rework
42:10this structure, to break free from this
42:13delusion, a person needs extreme
42:15awareness regarding who they are, what
42:18their vulnerabilities are, where these
42:20skids and spirals might form, and where
42:23they need to lay down some straw so
42:26they don't turn into a catastrophe. In
42:30other words, a fundamental, gradual
42:33restructuring of one's psychological
42:35makeup is needed, but no medical system
42:38can provide this, as they rigidly
42:40regulate the time allocated to a
42:43patient and the treatment protocol.
42:47Controllers, however, are reluctant to
42:49go to psychologists. And they often
42:51lead psychologists and therapists on a
42:53merry chase as well. That is the only
42:55way. They don't really trust anyone and
42:58consider themselves smarter than
42:59everyone else. Often, by the way, not
43:02without reason. And so it turns out
43:05that a controller truly has no one to
43:07rely on but themselves, because they
43:09won't let anyone get close enough to
43:11them. But, perhaps, a solution could be
43:14found in a project like my master group
43:16, for example. That is, a place where
43:20tools for self-work are provided; where
43:23, through a special methodology, my
43:25expert guidance, and general group
43:28support, you can realize step by step
43:30what your personality structure is,
43:33what the family system that formed you
43:36is, what the psychological history in
43:38which you appeared is, and when you can
43:41trust yourself. It is also about
43:45understanding when your consciousness
43:47reflects reality, and when you cannot
43:49trust yourself because defense
43:51mechanisms are at play. And this
43:54applies both to understanding and to
43:56emotions. In this way, like Baron
43:59Munchausen, you can pull yourself up by
44:01your own hair, maintaining, on the one
44:04hand, that familiar calm where you
44:06control the situation, while on the
44:09other hand, gradually moving toward
44:11necessary changes. If you recognized
44:16parts of your own psychological
44:18structure here, and if you need help
44:21but are also closed off from it, check
44:24the pinned comment for detailed
44:27information. So it turns out that a
44:31controller must direct all their
44:34colossal strength and intelligence
44:37toward engaging in a battle with their
44:40own demons. And they can never receive
44:44enough help or support from other
44:47people, because they will bend those
44:49who are submissive, and push away those
44:52who are equal or superior in strength.
44:56Lindsay's story is the worst-case
44:59scenario, where all these factors were
45:03extremely magnified, including her
45:06postpartum state, the specific demands
45:10of maternal labor, and the nature of
45:13the medical system. But I hope I have
45:18managed to show, at least partially,
45:21that in some situations a person may be
45:25closed off from help—not because they
45:28are abandoned to their fate, but simply
45:31because there is no form in which their
45:34psyche is capable of accepting it. The
45:39jury could not reach a verdict on
45:40Lindsay. This is perhaps the most
45:43honest outcome possible. As you have
45:46just heard, I have my own vision of how
45:48Lindsay's personality was structured
45:51and what factors led to the crime. The
45:54jurors have a form, and it contains
45:56five possible answers. First-degree
45:59murder, second-degree murder,
46:01manslaughter, not guilty by reason of
46:03insanity, and just not guilty. But you
46:06cannot choose one of the five directly.
46:08A staircase of three questions leads to
46:10them, and each subsequent one only
46:12opens if you have answered the previous
46:15one. The first question: did Lindsay
46:18take the children's lives, and did she
46:20have the intent to kill? A rubber band
46:23tied in a knot around a child's neck is
46:26an action that is hard to commit
46:28without understanding its meaning. I
46:30answer: "Yes." And I move on. The
46:32second question. And this, by all
46:34appearances, is where everyone got
46:35stuck. The prosecution is required to
46:38prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
46:40Lindsay was responsible for herself.
46:43And for that, they need two parts.
46:46First, that she understood she was
46:48killing. And second, that she could not
46:50stop. You have probably encountered
46:52this term in a different translation.
46:54Not "justified doubt," but "reasonable
46:57doubt." I translated it for myself
46:59differently to better grasp it. In
47:01America, a juror does not answer the
47:03question of whether she is guilty. They
47:06answer a different question. Has the
47:09prosecution proven its claim to the
47:11point where it is no longer reasonable
47:13to doubt it? A juror might personally
47:17believe the defendant is guilty, but by
47:20law, they must vote for acquittal if
47:22their certainty does not reach a
47:24certain bar. And in Massachusetts, this
47:27bar is described by a text that is over
47:30a century and a half old. And the judge
47:32reads it verbatim. It sounds roughly
47:36like this: proof beyond a reasonable
47:39doubt does not mean proof beyond all
47:42possible doubt, for everything in human
47:46life is open to some possible or
47:48imaginary doubt. It is not enough for
47:52the prosecution to establish a
47:54probability, even a high probability,
47:56that the defendant is more likely
47:58guilty than not guilty. That is not
48:00enough. If you have weighed all the
48:04evidence and still have a reasonable
48:06doubt, the defendant is entitled to
48:08that doubt and must be acquitted.
48:12Usually, the prosecution proves that a
48:14person committed a crime, but in
48:16Lindsay's case, the prosecution is
48:18required to prove beyond a reasonable
48:20doubt something else entirely: that she
48:22was sane. It is not the defense proving
48:25illness; the prosecution proves sanity.
48:28Moreover, as I said, they must prove
48:30not one phenomenon, but both parts.
48:32First, that she understood the
48:34wrongfulness of her actions, understood
48:36she was killing, and understood that
48:37she shouldn't do it. And second, that
48:40she retained the substantial capacity
48:42to conform her conduct to the law,
48:45meaning she could have stopped. And for
48:47a juror, doubt in just one part is
48:50enough for acquittal. So, if I put
48:52myself in a juror's shoes, I close the
48:54first part in favor of the prosecution.
48:57Lindsay understood the wrongfulness of
48:59her actions, understood she was killing
49:01, and understood that it was wrong. But
49:05as for the second, in the moment she
49:07tightened the first rubber band, could
49:09she have stopped, or could she not? And
49:13here I don't think that Linsey's state
49:15was in any way compatible with the word
49:17self-control: psychological exhaustion
49:20due to her personality structure, sleep
49:22deprivation, and incorrectly prescribed
49:25treatment. And what was a person
49:27planning a route for her husband 40
49:30minutes ago could indeed, in an instant
49:33, turn into a person who might know
49:36what she is doing, but is completely
49:39incapable of stopping. So, with a heavy
49:43heart and without any moral
49:45satisfaction, I would have had to
49:47acquit Linsey. And what verdict would
49:50you have reached? That is all I have
49:52for today. This was Violetta Makeeva.
49:54Take care of yourselves, and I look
49:56forward to seeing you again on my
49:57channel. M.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Дело Линдси Клэнси: почему присяжные зашли в тупик? by Виолетта Макеева , generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,310 words across 1,149 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.