‘Duck Dynasty’ Family Weighs In on Lindsay Clancy Case, Questions Overprescription of Psychiatric Drugs

Members of the Robertson family, stars of the reality series “Duck Dynasty,” used their podcast to weigh in on the closely watched case of Lindsay Clancy, whose trial on three counts of first-degree murder ended in a mistrial last week after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

On an episode of “Unashamed with the Robertson Family,” Jase Robertson, Al Robertson and Zach Dasher discussed the case and argued it should prompt a broader national reckoning over how mental illness is diagnosed and treated in the United States.

“I would love to see that conversation emerge because I do think that we have pathologized, and by pathologized, I mean we’ve turned a lot of spiritual issues into diseases,” Dasher said. “We call them like pathologies.”

Dasher contended that psychiatric conditions often cannot be verified through objective medical testing. “You can’t measure depression with a microscope,” he said, adding that researchers “don’t even know how these antidepressants” and “antipsychotics” actually work in the brain.

The Case at the Center of the Debate

Clancy was charged with murder in the deaths of her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months old. She admitted to strangling the children before attempting to take her own life, including by jumping from a second-story window, an act that left her paralyzed from the sternum down.

Her defense argued at trial that she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time and had been overmedicated while under psychiatric care. The trial ended without a verdict after the jury could not agree.

Dasher drew a comparison to a family member’s experience with medication. “I think Granny had a real issue, a lithium deficiency when she was treated with lithium. All of her psychosis subsided,” he said, referring to the mother of the late family patriarch Phil Robertson. “But man, how many people were just throwing these pills at people?”

Accountability and Sympathy

Despite his criticism of psychiatric treatment practices, Dasher was clear that he does not believe Clancy should escape consequences for the deaths of her children.

“I think that anybody that is capable of murdering your children… Anyone that does that is obviously in a very sick spiritual state,” Dasher said. “There’s something going on here that we can’t just turn everything into a pathology. Into a disease. Into something that could be treated with a pill.”

He added that Clancy “should be held accountable and put in a facility,” while saying he “does have sympathy in my heart” for her.

Jase Robertson agreed that punishment must follow. “Some justice has to be there” for the three children, he said, adding, “if you kill your three kids, you need to be locked up for the rest of your life.”

Dasher argued the two positions are not in tension. “Two things can be true at the same time. And one is, if somebody murders her children, you have to put that person away,” he said. “I mean, they have to. There has to be accountability in that.”

He continued: “And yeah, antidepressants are overprescribed. Antipsychotics are probably overprescribed. And so I think both of these things are true at the same time. But I think it’s another form of pathologizing what happened to say, well, the drugs made her do it.”

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).