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Finding fair juries will be key to Brian Walshe, Lindsay Clancy cases

QUINCY, Mass. — There seems to be no shortage of opinions about the cases of Brian Walshe and Lindsay Clancy.

The interest in the two Massachusetts cases is extremely high.

Brian Walshe is the Cohasset man charged with murdering and dismembering his wife Ana.

Lindsay Clancy is the Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three young children before trying to kill herself.

Both cases are still at the District Court level, but it’s never too early to think about how a fair and impartial jury can be seated.

Defense attorney Peter Elikann tells me jury selection will be critical in these cases as the court will be looking for jurors who can keep their minds open.

“I would be skeptical if somebody said they never heard of one of these cases a year or two from now,” Elikann said. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a difficult task to find fair, unbiased jurors who are open to listening to the evidence first, ultimately I do have faith in the court system.”

Ten years ago, Massachusetts jurors judged the high-profile cases of Mobster Whitey Bulger, Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez.

Boston Attorney Phil Tracy believes the same will happen for Walshe and Clancy

“They can get a fair trial, they won’t get a change of venue,” Tracy said.

Tracy believes Walshe and Clancy’s cases will stay in Norfolk and Plymouth Counties, where the cases are based, because, thanks to modern media, moving the cases won’t make a difference.

“Springfield, Pittsfield, they read all about this. They know all about this,” said Tracy. “There’s so much information out there that there wasn’t there in the 50′s and 60′s where you could take a case and move it and the people might not know much about it.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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