AI Summary
5 min readIn the Lindsay Clancy trial, the defense's central claim is that she was in a psychotic state when she killed her three children, acting on a command hallucination. But Julia Cowley, a retired FBI profiler from the Behavioral Analysis Unit, sees a critical gap in that story. "I don't see the evidence of the distorted thinking," she says. "And that's really the gap that I have." Cowley, who joined the podcast The Prosecutors while the jury was deliberating, walked through how she would evaluate such a case from a behavioral perspective—and what she finds missing.
How a Profiler Approaches a Case Like This
Cowley explains that the BAU does not diagnose suspects. That is the job of forensic psychiatrists like Dr. Robert Sadoff, who testified for the prosecution in this trial and who Cowley worked with on past cases. What profilers do instead is look at behavior: what the evidence shows about a person's actions, beliefs, and decision-making. When a defense claims psychosis—specifically a command hallucination to kill—the profiler wants to see behavioral evidence that supports it. "What is the distorted belief that this person has? Why did the person believe they had to obey that command? What were going to be the consequences?" Those are the questions Cowley says she would ask.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:11) **Introduction and Guest Background** - Alice and Brett welcome Julia Cowley, retired FBI BAU profiler and host of The Consult podcast, to discuss the Lindsay Clancy trial as the jury deliberates.
- 2 (09:32) **Working with Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Sadoff** - Julia describes how the BAU collaborates with Dr. Sadoff, a contract psychiatrist, to understand suspects' mental states when behavioral analysis alone is insufficient.
- 3 (14:31) **How Profilers Weigh Expert Testimony** - Julia explains that she does not take expert opinions as gospel, but evaluates them against the evidence to determine what is most probable, not just possible.
- 4 (18:26) **Are Expert Witnesses "Hired Guns"?** - Julia addresses the common criticism that prosecution-paid experts tailor their opinions to fit the prosecution's narrative.
- 5 (22:58) **Julia's Experience on the Witness Stand** - Julia recounts rare instances where she testified on behavioral matters, including a memorable cross-examination by an aggressive defense attorney.
- 6 (27:49) **Addressing the "Patrick Did It" Conspiracy Theory** - Alice asks how a theory with zero evidentiary support became mainstream, and Julia analyzes the attention-seeking dynamics behind such conspiracies.
- 7 (34:21) **The Importance of Basing Analysis on Probabilities** - Julia explains that behavioral analysis relies on what is most probable given the evidence, not on every possible scenario.
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Show Notes
We are joined by retired FBI Profiler and host of The Consult: Real FBI Profilers, Julia Cowley, for her thoughts on the Lindsay Clancy case.
Check out our other show, The Prosecutors: Legal Briefs, for discussion on cases, controversial topics, or conversations with content creators.
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