A woman charged with murdering her child is signaling that she intends to use an insanity defense.
Andrea Faust, 41, is charged with murder and attempted murder.
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A notice filed Tuesday in Durham County Superior Court says Faust’s attorneys intend to rely on two defenses: not guilty by reason of insanity and diminished capacity.
The filing does not establish that Faust was legally insane or had diminished capacity.
A previously filed court document shows Faust attempted suicide twice in February. That document also said Faust was trying to hoard Tylenol while at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, claiming it was for a future suicide attempt.
In March, a judge determined Faust was incapable of proceeding to trial.
“It is evident that she is a danger to herself and requires immediate and intensive psychiatric attention,” a court document states. “Further evaluation is also necessary in order to determine her capacity to proceed.”
More recent court filings indicate that Central Regional Hospital found Faust capable of proceeding to trial on May 21. She will now undergo another evaluation, according to her attorney.
In a statement to WRAL, Faust’s attorney, Nicole Galinsky, said, “I suspected this would be a postpartum psychosis case from reading the headlines and, after my first meeting with my client, I knew this was a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity [NGRI] psychosis case. Defense expert Adrienne Saxton has already found that Andrea was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong in relation to [the incident].”
Galinsky said there were similarities between Faust’s case and that of Lindsay Clancy, a mother on trial in connection with the 2023 strangulation deaths of her three children. Clancy claims to have had a postpartum psychotic break during the incident. Galinsky drew similarities between the two cases:
"Andrea and Lindsay's cases are eerily similar, though not entirely the same. Both women were known to be loving, doting, responsible mothers who were worried about and caring for their children up until the very-second they decided to kill them. Both women were reaching out to their own mothers to come help them because they both recognized that they were having “horrible” (intrusive) thoughts and both, at some point, did not feel safe around their children. Both were beginning to have auditory hallucinations which they were doing everything in their power to ignore or make go away (including seeking out psychiatric help, being prescribed medication, etc.). Both were psychiatrically hospitalized before the killings happened. Neither woman did this out of the blue. Both were struggling enormously with their mental health. But, like most women and almost-all moms, they were just trying to get through each day, care for their children, be a good mom/wife/employee. Both were seeking help from doctors who weren’t really taking their concerns seriously."Nicole Galinsky on the similarities between Foust & Clancy's cases
She says, these cases highlight systemic issues facing struggling mothers.
"Both of these cases highlight the failure in our society to take women and mothers seriously when it comes to their mental health. Both of these women advocated for themselves countless times and--for what? It got them nowhere."
Foust will undergo a mental evaluation to determine if her not guilty by reason of insanity plea will be accepted.
“Once a psychiatrist from Central Regional Hospital is able to give his or her opinion on Andrea’s state of mind at the time of the killing/attempted killing, we can move forward with the case,” Galinsky added.
