Who is Dr Phillip Resnick? Psychiatrist who backed Andrea Yates’ insanity defense set to testify for Lindsay Clancy
Dr Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who testified in the Andrea Yates case, is expected to be a key defense witness in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.
Who is Dr Phillip Resnick?
Phillip J Resnick is a well-known forensic psychiatrist who is an expert in checking violence risk and spotting fake mental illness claims. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, as per Specialized Training.
He is also a former president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Over the years, he has worked as a consultant in many high-profile cases, including those of Jeffrey Dahmer, Susan Smith, Timothy McVeigh, Andrea Yates, Scott Peterson, Brian Mitchell (who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart), Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber) and Casey Anthony.
Dr Resnick has written more than 215 professional journal articles and book chapters. He has also lectured in 49 states and 24 countries, according to Specialized Training.
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What is his role in the Lindsay Clancy trial?
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington is nearing the end of his case in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial. He said he plans to call Dr Phillip Resnick as his final witness via Zoom on Friday, as per CBS.
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan in their Duxbury, Massachusetts home on January 24, 2023. Reddington has been trying to show that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible because she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Judge William Sullivan of Plymouth Superior Court said closing arguments will likely happen Monday or Tuesday, depending on how long the final four witnesses take on the stand.
After Resnick’s testimony, the prosecution is expected to call three rebuttal witnesses.
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His testimony in the Andrea Yates case
On June 20, 2001, police found Andrea Yates outside her Clear Lake, Texas, home. She told officers she had drowned her five children.
Yates had filled the bathtub and drowned her sons Luke, 2, Paul, 3, John, 5, and her 6-month-old daughter Mary. Her eldest son, Noah, 7, saw his sister in the tub and tried to run, but Yates caught him and drowned him too. She placed the bodies of her four youngest children on her bed, covered them with a sheet and repeatedly called 911.
Dr Resnick was a key defense witness in Andrea Yates’ 2001 trial. Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity after killing her five children in Texas, as per CNN.
Resnick evaluated Yates and said her psychotic mind saw the killings as a battle between good and evil. He said, “It is my opinion, with medical certainty, that Mrs. Yates on June 20, 2001, believed she was doing what was right for the children. And in her heart, and even in her psychotic mind, she knew she was doing what was right.”
He said Yates believed killing her children before they reached the “age of accountability” would send them to Heaven, calling it the final battle against Satan. Resnick said, “Satan, the one and only Satan, not just a demon, but the singular Satan, would be executed … It would fulfill the prophecy, the final battle, Armageddon.”
Resnick pointed to the fact that Yates did not try to hide her actions as she called 911 and cooperated with police, as proof that she believed in her delusion rather than trying to escape blame.
After the 2006 verdict, Yates was committed to a state psychiatric hospital rather than prison, to be held until she was no longer deemed a danger.
