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What's next for Lindsay Clancy? A teen's murder on cruise ship. Plus, does the insanity defense work?

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In Massachusetts, the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy comes to an end after lengthy jury deliberations. What happens next for the 36-year-old mother and former nurse who says she killed her three...

Transcript

EN

Hi, I'm Kate Snow and BC News Anchor and host of the NBC News Podcast, The Dr...

This month, I'm sitting down with actor, writer, producer, Brendan Hunt.

Most of you know him as coach-beard from Ted Lasso, but there is so much more to his story. We sit down, we talk about all of it from his bumpy upbringing, to his years in improv comedy, and how a Hollywood rejection opened the door to co-creating Ted Lasso. It's an open, funny conversation about perseverance, creativity, and the winding road that brought him right here.

We hope you'll join us for the Drink, listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Hi guys. Good morning. It's the start of another workday for the date line team. Supposedly, he stages his own kidnapping.

Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. We've got crews ready to go, he was ordered on to house arrest with no exception. Train to things that happen. Welcome to Date Line True Crime Weekly.

I'm Andrea Cannon, it's September 10th and here's what's on our jacket.

In Florida, the trial of a 16-year-old accused of murdering his step sister on a cruise ship is delayed for a surprising reason. You might think, oh, maybe that's a stall tactic, but here's the explanation. In Date Line Roundup, we've got the latest on the Texas man who fled to Italy on the eve of his murder trial.

And Barry Morphew, the Colorado husband accused of killing his wife with an animal tranquilizer, is back in court. So Barry was arrested last week, and according to a court filing, he was involved in a hit and run crash. Plus, the insanity defense.

β€œWe heard a lot about it at Lindsey Clancy's trial, but how often is it actually used?”

When these cases come up, it becomes a battle of the experts. Before all that, we're heading back to Massachusetts for an update on the explosive final hours of the Clancy trial, and where the case goes from here. Last week, a jury of nine women and three men entered their seventh day of deliberations in a case that has transfixed the nation.

Lindsey Clancy, the 36-year-old mother and former labor and delivery nurse, accused of murdering her three young children. Prosecutors urged the jury to find Lindsey guilty, saying she deliberately planned the children's deaths. Lindsey's defense argued she was not in her right mind, struggling with postpartum psychosis

and a cocktail of medications. Twice, the jury told the judge they were deadlocked. Twice, he sent them back to try to find common ground. Then, on Friday morning, just after 11 AM, the jury came back with a note that kicked off an extraordinary series of events.

Our own Blaine Alexander was there for it all, and is here now to fill us in on the drama inside the courtroom.

β€œWhat jurors have since revealed about their deliberations and what could happen next?”

Blaine, thanks for being here. Andrea, thanks so much for having me. So as we said, Blaine, you were at the Plymouth County Courthouse for the final week of trial. What was it like reporting from there, set the scene for us?

You know, Andrea, I can't overstate for you just how many, you know, of course, traditional media, but just bloggers, people who were streaming how many people were at that courthouse trying to capture every single moment of what was happening. Yeah, it seems like you can't click on social media or, you know, a news website and not see the Lindsey Clancy trial.

It has gotten so much attention, Blaine. You're absolutely right, Andrea, and not just from the people, of course, who were there in Plymouth, but there have been people who have really felt some sort of connection to this case. In fact, Lindsey Clancy's attorney, her defense attorney Kevin Reddington actually came

in holding what he said was a box of letters from people who had just written to her over the course of this trial wanting to show their support. Yeah, she definitely has a lot of support and then there's people that don't support her. That's right. In addition to the supporters and the people, of course, who go the other way, there have been

a lot of conspiracy theories flying around about this case, specifically about the role that her husband Patrick played in all of this. And so that really has added to just so much of the chatter here and all of this. One of the theories is that Patrick might be responsible for the children's deaths.

And we just want to say that he has never been accused of anything by law enforcement or prosecutors.

Absolutely. And not only has he not been accused of anything, but Lindsey Clancy herself and her defense attorney have not disputed the fact that she, in fact, killed her children. But yes.

β€œAnd that's what's making some of these conspiracy theories seem so outlandish.”

Because of her confession that she killed the children. Exactly. Yeah. All right, Blaine, let's get into what happened in the courtroom. The last time we checked in on the case, it was day five of deliberations.

After saying they were deadlocked the judge sent the jury back with special instructions, basically saying that there was no better jury, that they should do their best to come to a verdict. Blaine, what happened next? So this was, this was kind of the beginning of perhaps one of the most dramatic periods of a trial that I've ever covered.

Thursday there was a note that was sent from the four person, basically sayin...

they were 11 to 1, and there was one person that they believed had expressed doubt.

But wasn't willing to vote for not guilty, basically.

And the judge gave instructions, basically read another definition of reasonable doubt. And since then back to begin deliberating again, and you could see Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington getting upset, he then came out, asked for that juror to be removed. If we come back here in a half an hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it's a shame.

β€œAnd that's why my motion is to remove this juror that refuses to listen to your instruction”

in reasonable doubt. The prosecution opposed that saying that the juror should actually stay on the jury and ultimately the judge sided with the prosecution on that. I don't feel it's appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11. Deliberations resumed first thing Friday morning.

Did you get the sense that there had to be an end in sight now regardless of what was going to happen?

I mean, you can't just keep sending them back.

Similarly, then we heard there was a note from the jury judge Sullivan read the jurors' final note. It is with a heavy heart that we report, we are unable to come do a unanimous decision and we'll not be able to. Judge Sullivan announced that he felt that he really didn't have a choice anymore but

to declare a mistrial. Blaine Kevin Readington, Lindsey's defense attorney did something very bold at that point. It was unbelievable, Andrea. He made a last minute appeal to the state Supreme Court, essentially trying to stop a mistrial from being called.

Now, I have to talk to you about the timing of this Andrea. I kind of equated this to someone, if doors are about to close someone throwing their body in between elevator doors to keep it open because that's exactly what it felt like when we watched him do that. And we have some sound from Judge Sullivan trying to wrap his head around it.

I'm just trying to find out what it is that you're asking for. But if that's all for him, it's time to file a single justice appeal for this traveling Steve. That's what I'm asking for. So you asked for emergency state at this point.

Yes. So the judge said you have one hour to file that emergency stay with the state Supreme Court and so everyone filed back out of the courtroom and the clock started right then.

β€œSo many legal twists and turns in this case, what happened next?”

There was a zoom meeting that we actually watched members of the defense team go leave the courtroom, go into a side room. We saw the prosecutions team go into a different side room. All of us media were crowded around several laptops in the hallway and we were watching this zoom meeting live just to see what would happen.

And that's when we saw them all basically argue their cases before a Supreme judicial

court associate justice who ultimately denied that stay. Okay. So with that state denied, that's when the judge moved ahead to clear the mistrial. The judge thanked the jurors for their dedication before dismissing them. Did you see any visible reactions from the jurors?

I would imagine in this case, they had to feel defeated. Oh, it was very clear. I mean, there was a motion on their face. There was one juror, a woman who leaned forward, put her hands on her face. I mean, was clearly upset, sat hunched over for a few minutes and then came back up, took

her hands down, exhaled audibly. And then for the rest of the time that the judge spoke, looked like she was holding back tears. I mean, we're talking about raw emotion coming from people who've dedicated, I mean, weeks of their lives to hearing and trying to decide this case.

I wish we could have come through for a Wednesday. I feel very sad that we couldn't.

β€œI think the biggest thing that kept coming back to me was how many times she asked for help.”

Earlier this week, three of the jurors, Kelly Farina, Paula Devlin and four person Ronnie Carlson sat down with NBC 10 Boston's Suho Connell in an exclusive interview to talk about their experience. We kept having to bring ourselves back to the fact that she, we weren't trying to figure out if she murdered the children.

She did. And she's admitting that. We're trying to figure out, did she know right from wrong at that time? And with everybody saying, she loved your children so much and everything proved she loved your children from our journals to her mother-in-law.

Everything proved that she loved your children so she had to have snapped and not known what she was doing. As for the whole down chair, he admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms. I was so excited.

I actually, the with three forms I had to fill out and I started filling them out. So I wrote my signature on each one and then he said, "But I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by recent events in here."

Now, like the rest of us, the three jurors are wondering what comes next.

"The chief should be re-trived, I would like to see her being right.

β€œI would like him not to retry her, but if he chooses to, I would be in that quote one."”

Blaine, the district attorney spoke outside the courtroom immediately after the mistrial was called, "Do you know what the state is going to do?" Yeah, we heard first from the district attorney, Tim Cruz, who said he hasn't decided whether or not he's going to retry this. And we should say he really defends this case and why his office took it to trial.

He did and he spoke pretty passionately.

This was and has always been about getting justice for those three little babies.

They're here at this courthouse today because those children are not. Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney on the other hand, said, "If they try and prosecute her again, we're ready to go as soon as next week." Like, bring it on. Let's do it.

He did however mention, though, that he was concerned about Lindsey. I thought it would be very difficult for her to withstand another case.

β€œIt's not right what she had to go through because she grieves the loss of those three”

children, Clara, Dyson, and Calen. We know that there's going to be a status hearing on September 29th regarding the next steps. And in the meantime, Lindsey Clancy is going to remain where she has been this entire time.

That's too very hospital, which is a state run psychiatric hospital and she's been there for the better part of three and a half years now. Her ex-husband Patrick Clancy released two statements. What did he want to get across, Blaine? Well, a couple of things, he wanted to get across that he was very grateful to the jury

for their hard work, but he didn't want to make the point that the possibility of having to essentially relip this tragedy of losing his children through another trial was extraordinarily painful. And then, yes, Andrew, he released a statement on Tuesday with a very different tone, pushing back against those conspiracy theories that we talked about.

He basically said enough is enough and he threatened legal action.

Yeah, it will be interesting to see how the state responds to Patrick Clancy because we know that they often consult families when making decisions like this. I will say that spending the amount of time that I did in Plymouth, this has been extraordinarily hard on everybody in this community. And I can't overstate that enough.

You know, when you have a trial that is so high profile, it's just, it's a lot for everyone involved. Blaine, we know that you will stay on this case, and we're so grateful for your reporting from the courthouse. Of course, thanks so much for having me, Andrea.

Coming up, family tension and the run-up to the trial of a teen charged with murdering his step-sister. All his lives were changed forever in a single moment in my new podcast before and after.

I explore what happens after that decisive moment, personal, powerful conversations with

Colin Kaepernick, Jeremy Renner, Gabby Giffords, and others, join me wherever you get your podcasts. Before and after with Lester Hold Premier's Monday September 14th, follow now to listen completely free or subscribe to Date Line Premium to unlock new episodes early. Hey guys, Willie Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast on this

week's episode. I get together with crossover country superstar Megan Moroni at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to talk about her number one album, her sold out arena tour, and her rapid rise to the top of the music world. You can get our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts.

In November of last year, the Carnival Horizon cruise ship docked in Miami after a voyage to the Caribbean. But before passengers finished disembarking, FBI agents stormed the ship to begin investigating a horrifying crime. The FBI is investigating the mysterious death of a woman onboard a carnival cruise ship.

The victim was 18-year-old Anna Kaepner, a high school senior and cheerleader. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death in her cabin. A few months later, Anna's stepbrother, 16-year-old Timothy Hudson, surrender to law enforcement and was charged with her murder. This week, Timothy, who has pleaded not guilty, was supposed to go to trial, but an unusual

legal request from his defense attorney stopped everything in its tracks. Here to bring us up to speed on the cases NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch, Jesse thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, Andrea. See, before we get into the details of this tragic crime, tell us more about Anna Kaepner.

β€œYes, so I remember this from when we were covering the immediate aftermath.”

Her family was describing her as someone who had a "bright and beautiful soul."

She was soon to be graduating high school.

She grew up and was living in Titusville, Florida, that's between Orlando and the Kennedy Space

Center for People who weren't familiar. She had plans of possibly joining the U.S. Navy after high school. And then everything, of course, completely changes, and suddenly her car is at her high school parking lot covered in flowers and balloons and it's become a memorial. Really, really sad.

β€œDo we know anything about her relationship with her stepbrother before this happened?”

We know that they were sharing a room on board the cruise ship, according to what has come out in this case from prosecutors and as younger brother, results were sharing that room with them. Clear how long they had had a relationship before their parents had gotten married if they had one.

Anna's father and her stepbrother's mom had only been married about 11 months before this

happened. Jessie, what did you learn about the circumstances of her death on that cruise ship? The way this unfolded is there were crew members that allegedly found Anna Kaepner's body wrapped in a blanket or a bed sheet under her bed in her cabin on the cruise ship, according to records from the Miami-Dane Medical Examiner's office, Anna Kaepner had bruising on

her neck because of death has been determined to be asphyxious. So effectively, she was choked. And also the medical examiner suspected she'd been sexually assaulted.

β€œDo we know how quickly Timothy, her stepbrother, fell under suspicion for her death?”

Yes, so according to what we've learned from court documents, the medical examiner did a rape kit during the autopsy and investigators got a search warrant to get DNA from her

stepbrother pretty quickly.

And according to court documents, prosecutors say his DNA is a match to the DNA from the rape kit. He was charged with Anna's murder in February, but initially as a juvenile, so everything was kept under seal, but that changed in April, right? Yes, so he was 16 when this alleged murder happened.

He was being looked at as a minor. And then months later, he is then charged as an adult. They're essentially saying it's the seriousness of the crimes that being charged as an adult now is more appropriate. Jesse, what else do we know about the prosecution's case?

Yes, so of course DNA evidence is huge, right? But they also say they have surveillance footage that illustrates some of the events that unfolded. So what prosecutors say is that CCTV footage from the ship showed Timothy Hudson entering the cabin, which again, he was sharing with Anna Kappner around 730 p.m. And within minutes, Anna Kappner goes into that same cabin, according to the footage.

And here's the key part of this Andrea. The footage does not show Anna Kappner ever leave that room again. That, of course, helps illustrate her movements and where they stop. And then the next day, surveillance footage from the cruise ship appears to show Timothy Hudson dumping something in a trash can.

And the reason that is getting attention is because prosecutors talked about how Anna Kappner's phone had been smashed and was found in a trash can later on. As the prosecution offered any kind of a theory of a possible motive here, so they haven't shared much. They haven't, right?

We have not gone to trial here yet. So we have not heard the full case from prosecutors. But there was testimony that came from law enforcement that Anna Kappner's ex-boyfriend says that there was a FaceTime call he was on with her. She fell asleep and the call was still going.

And he saw Anna Kappner step brother allegedly trying to get into her bed.

β€œThat's, of course, one incident that is alleged, right?”

Important to say that. It's an allegation, but that same ex-boyfriend talks about Anna Kappner allegedly being nervous because Timothy Hudson had knives. So prosecutors are at least putting out there that they are thinking about a possible tension with that relationship there.

What has the defense set about all of this? Importantly, let's also talk about what they have not said. The defense does not deny that there could have been a sexual encounter between Anna Kappner and Timothy Hudson, but the defense also says that prosecutors do not have proof that this was anything other than a consensual interaction.

The defense is also pointed out that there's no camera inside the room, right? So we don't know exactly what happened. And he is being tried in federal court, Timothy. His trial has been delayed. Yes.

So his defense team actually asked for this delay, right? If the right to a speedy trial, but his defense team requested a delay saying they want more time to prepare. And that's something that you might think, oh, maybe that's a stall tactic.

Here's the explanation from the defense team.

The defense said in part, quote, "the unique and very unfortunate family dynamic that has

β€œresulted from the allegations here is prompting them to want this delay and that is contributing”

to challenges in how they are able to prepare their case and get to know the circumstances surrounding their clients' life before this unfolded and what may have allegedly led him to do something." In the motion that defense is talking about how they don't have access to certain family members that would help facilitate their investigation.

That's right. So the judge granted that defense is request to delay the trial. So what happens next, Jesse? The new trial date is November 2nd, but we'll see if that actually happens if it gets delayed again.

Or, of course, Andrew, there's always the possibility there could be a plea agreement

before this evening goes to trial. Jesse, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me, Andrew. Up next, it's time for Date Line Roundup. Barry Morview, the Colorado husband accused of murdering his wife over Mother's Day weekend

in 2020, faces a judge, and new charges for one of the people accused of murdering Microsoft employee and father of four, Jared Bride again.

β€œPlus, the insanity defense, how often do people use it, and does it actually work?”

Welcome back. Joining me for this week's Roundup is Date Line Producer Rachel White. Hey, Rachel. Hey, Andrea, thanks for having me. Our first story, Rachel, is out of Boulder, Colorado, and we have an update in the case

of Barry Morview. It's actually been a while since we've heard Barry's name. He is accused of murdering his wife Suzanne Morview, who went missing on Mother's Day 2020. Barry was initially arrested for her murder in 2021, only for prosecutors to drop the charges. Then after Suzanne's remains were founded in 2023, Barry was charged with her murder

for a second time. Rachel remind us how the prosecution is connecting Barry to Suzanne's death. Yeah, so according to prosecutors, the medical examiner found something called BAM in Suzanne's body, which is a veterinary grade animal tranquilizer. And they say official records show Barry was the only private citizen in the area at the

time of Suzanne's disappearance, who had access to the drug.

Barry has pleaded not guilty, and until recently was on house arrest, after posting $3 million

bond, waiting for the start of his trial.

β€œRachel, he had some pretty strict conditions on his bond, right?”

He did. Barry was not allowed to leave the house except for work, court hearings, and medical appointments. So it was pretty strict. Which brings us to a twist in this case, something that I did not see coming Rachel. Yeah, so Barry was arrested last week, and according to a court filing, he was involved

in a hidden run crash with two other vehicles back in late August in the Denver area. And on Tuesday, he was back in court to answer some tough questions from the judge. So how did authorities even find out that he was allegedly involved in this hidden run? Well, the judge said that she received an email from a quote unquote "concerned citizen" and reviewed a video of the incident taken by one of the victims, who then confronted the man

who hit their car. And the judge said the man on the video is very clearly Barry Morpheo. They'd be asked Colorado acquired the video from one of the victims. Let's play a clip of it. If there is no damage, that's great, but I want to take it to somebody and I need your insurance

and I need your ID, please. Do you have your ID? I don't. But I can give you money. According to the victim, Barry Morpheo fled the scene after he was informed the police were

coming. At the hearing, the prosecutor said that GPS data from Morpheo's ankle bracelet suggests he was driving to the Denver airport at the time of the alleged "hidden run." Until do we know why? According to prosecutors, it could have been to pick up his daughter, but that would be

a violation of his bail conditions. And the judge said there was no indication whatsoever that he was at the airport in a working capacity at the time of the crash. "You had no purpose in being in the airport that day, no legitimate purpose." What did the judge ultimately decide?

So the judge decided to raise Barry's bond to $10 million cash only.

She said that if Barry postponed, he will not be able to leave the house for any reason except to go to court or if there's a medical emergency involving an ambulance. OK. Now, we are going to Jacksonville, Florida, for an interesting development in the case of murdered Microsoft employee Jared Bride again.

He was gunned down in February 2022 when he got out of his car to move a tire lying in the road. We talked a few weeks ago on the podcast about the trial of Mario Fernandez Saldana, one

Of the three people who have been charged in connection with Jared's murder, ...

give us a quick recap.

So Mario Fernandez Saldana is married to Jared's ex-wife, Shana Gardner.

Shana and Jared shared two young children and prosecutors argued at Mario's recent trial that Shana and Jared's disputes over their children had become so bitter that Shana and Mario plotted to hire a hitman to kill Jared. Mario was convicted, but Shana and the alleged hitman, a man who rented property from Mario by the name of Henry Tenon, have yet to go to trial.

They both have pleaded not guilty. Shana Gardner's trial was supposed to start last week, but her defense asked for a continuance, because of disturbing new allegations that came out about Mario just a day after he was convicted, Rachel. Yeah, so Mario has been charged with two counts of loot or lascivious molestation and

prosecutors say he molested two young victims in 2020 and 2022 respectively.

He's yet to enter a plea in that case.

How does this affect Shana's case now? Well, Gardner's defense now says this new evidence against Mario could prove that he had a motive to kill Jared independent of Shana and they need time to investigate that.

β€œRachel, what are they alleging the motive could be here?”

So they're saying the motive could be that Jared found out about Mario's alleged molestation, so Mario needed a way to essentially keep him quiet. What did the judge decide? Judge Landon Kite has pushed the trial date to May of 2027. OK, thank you for these updates, Rachel.

Thank you. As we talked about earlier, the Lindsey Clancy trial hinged on whether jurors would buy her defense that she was not in her right mind when she killed her children. Miles involving the insanity defense are few and far between. So it made us wonder how do they actually work and how do you prove to a jury what was

going on in someone's mind at the time of a crime? We asked our friend to fence attorney and NBC News legal analyst Danny Sevalos to break it down for us. Hey, Danny. Hey, Andrea.

So we're so used to talking about trials that involve evidence forensics, timelines, facts, you know debating whether someone is insane or not is something entirely different. Danny, where do you even start? That's right. And the insanity defense, the concept of insanity is a legal one, not a medical one.

And just suffering from a mental illness or disorder, it's not enough.

β€œWhat is the standard of proof in a courtroom when we're talking about this?”

This is so fascinating because when you think of all the advancements we've made in the world of mental health. Many courts still use the test that was developed in the 19th century, called the Minotten Test. We all learned it in law school and it came about in 1843 when in Englishman Daniel McNotton

shot and killed the Prime Minister's secretary believing that the Prime Minister was conspiring against him, of course, the Prime Minister was not.

He was acquitted by reason of insanity and that gave us the Minotten test basically a defendant

as to prove one of two things, either that as a result of that mental illness or defect. The defendant either didn't know what she was doing or that she didn't know what was right and wrong. And by the way, the important thing to know about right and wrong is it's not your own subjective awareness of right and wrong.

It's whether you're aware that society deems what you're doing to be wrong. Danny, we know that in criminal cases, the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

β€œSo how does the burden of proof work when it comes to insanity?”

This is going to sound silly, but is a person sane until proven insane? No, that's a great way of putting it. And the reason you're right is that insanity is called an affirmative defense. And an affirmative defense is essentially where you say, okay, you have all these underlying elements of a crime, but I, as the defendant say, there are additional facts in addition

to those underlying facts that essentially excuse my conduct or exonerate me, jurisdictions vary on whether or not the defendant has the burden of proof. So for example, in federal court, the burden is on the defendant to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is insane, all what a difference in Massachusetts, which I believe has the most forgiving, most beneficial defense oriented insanity defense in

Massachusetts, once insanity is raised, the prosecution has the burden to disprove insanity and beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard in our legal system. Well, it all sounds subjective, you know, depending on where you are or what kind of court you're in. You couldn't be more right.

And that's why when these cases come up, it becomes a battle of the experts.

As you can imagine, if you can find a medical expert on things like broken bo...

nerve damage that say complete opposite things at trial, you can imagine that you can

find medical providers and experts in the mental health area that can testify to completely different conclusions about a criminal defendant. And that is exactly what happened in the Lindsay Clancy trial. All right. I know that there's no like real like stats on this, but anecdotally, how often does the insanity

defense work? Rare, it's rarely used because it's a huge gambit.

β€œYou have to admit to the underlying conduct.”

And moreover, you're going to be institutionalized even if you succeed. Yeah. I mean, you know, you think, oh, it feels lighter, maybe if they're found guilty by reason of insanity, but they are still locked up. Exactly right.

So there isn't any hard rule for how long folks are kept in these institutions, but from what I've seen, and this is just anecdotal, they generally keep them a long time. Yeah. I mean, Andrea Yates, she drowned her five children after she said she heard a voice telling her to do it.

At her second trial, a jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity, and she is still

in the mental institution. But in a twist, she actually didn't want to leave. Yeah, not surprisingly, there are folks who maybe find that the treatment is helping them. With regards to Andrea, the jury finding her not guilty by reason of insanity, why do you think the jury went with that verdict in her case?

So similar to Lindsay Clancy. Yeah. I mean, I've heard a lot of the same things during the Lindsay Clancy trial. And it's kind of a circular conclusion, which is, and you probably heard a lot of this, no sane person would kill their three children.

Therefore, the horror of the crime itself is evidence of insanity. And I get that.

β€œYou hear a lot of folks say that, and maybe that's what happens in these cases where mothers”

kill their children, that jurors are more willing than they otherwise would be to accept and consider an insanity defense for that reason. Anyone who would do this, the thinking goes, has to be insane. Thank you so much for your insight into this. I'm sure we'll see you back here again soon, Danny.

Thank you for this. Thank you. That's it for this episode of "Date Line True Crime Weekly." Make sure to check out Lester's new podcast series before and after, with Lester Holtz. Starting on September 14th, he'll be talking to Jeremy Renner, Colin Kaepernick, Gabby

Giffords and others about the moments that changed their lives forever. And their resilience in the face of the unimaginable. "What's your life today?

β€œIf you're going to die, you don't want to die alone."”

To get early access to the first episode now, subscribe to "Date Line Premium." And coming up this Friday on "Date Line" on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, stories of courage and survival, featuring rarely seen NBC News Archive footage from Ground Zero that day.

Plus powerful and emotional new interviews with the people our cameras caught during the terrorist

attacks. Second plane came in and hit and I turned and I got the fireball and explosion and it was "then that everybody knew, absolutely knew, this was not an accident." Watch "Facing Ground Zero" at 10/9 central on "Date Line" on NBC. Thanks for listening.

"Date Line True Crime Weekly" is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey and Keone Reed. Our associate producers are "Ellerie Gladstone, Roth, and Arya Young," production and fact-checking help by "Macy Hands Like Baron." Our senior producer is Liz Brown Kuroloff. Veronica Mazeka is our digital producer, Rick Kuan is our sound designer, original music

by Jessie McGinty, Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of "Date Line." "Iron." "This fall on NBC," the premiere of "The Line of Fire," a thrilling new crime drama. "The world sees us as heroes, but they don't know what the job really costs."

"One family of federal agents." "It's one thing to put yourself in danger, it's different when it's your family." "Balance is duty to their country, the assassin's still out there." "And each other." "How do you protect the world and the people you love at the same time?"

"Every case hits home, online of fire, premiering Monday, September 21st on NBC."

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