Corie Walsh is being represented by Andrea Lyon, who previously represented Casey Anthony when she was charged with murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee

NEED TO KNOW

• Corie Walsh, 40, is charged with murder after telling police she killed her 2-year-old son Barrett because he was the “devil” and “anti-Christ,” according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE
• The Illinois mother had a growing fascination with the Lindsay Clancy trial prior to the death of her son, witnesses told investigators
• Walsh has now hired Andrea Lyon as her defense attorney, who previously defended Casey Anthony when she was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee

An Illinois woman who is charged with murdering her toddler son amid a growing fascination with the Lindsay Clancy trial is being represented by the former attorney for another mother accused of filicide.

Andrea Lyon, the criminal defense attorney whose work on death penalty cases has earned her the nickname “The Angel of Death Row,” is one of the defense attorneys for Corie Walsh.

Walsh, 40, is the mother of four who is accused of killing her 2-year-old son on Sept. 1 at the family’s home in Frankfort, a village located approximately 35 miles south of Chicago.

Investigators later learned through interviews with witnesses that Walsh “had recently become very interested in the Lindsay Clancy trial” and had been discussing the case in a group chat just a few hours before her son’s death, according to the copy of the petition to deny pretrial release obtained by PEOPLE.

Her attorney also has ties to a notorious murder trial.

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Lyon served as lead counsel for Casey Anthony back in 2010 when she was charged with murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

That case ended with Anthony being acquitted by a jury in Florida, but by that time Lyon had left the defense team and Anthony was being represented by Jose Baez.

Lyon’s co-counsel in the case is Robert Kerr, her partner at the Chicago-based law firm Lyon & Kerr.

There are a number of similarities between the Clancy case and that of Walsh.

The victims in both cases were found in the basement. Like Clancy, Walsh then attempted to take her own life.

It was a neighbor who found 2-year-old Barrett Walsh deceased in the basement and then raced upstairs to find Walsh cutting herself with a knife, according to the petition.

The neighbor removed the knife from Walsh’s hands and threw it in the sink, then grabbed a towel to try and stop the bleeding on her leg.

Police said that when they arrived on the scene, Walsh admitted to murdering her child and said he was the “devil” and the “anti-Christ.”

Walsh’s 8-month-old infant child was also in the home but unharmed. Her two older children came home from school around the same time the victim was discovered, according to the petition.

Her husband was away on business at the time.

Walsh was treated at a nearby hospital for the next few days before being taken into custody and appearing in court for the first time on Sept. 9.

Prosecutors said at that hearing that Walsh also threatened to kill her husband when he returned from his business trip.

Her husband did not attend that hearing because he was at their son’s funeral.

Lyon has denied there is any sort of copycat element between this case and the Clancy case, and maintains that her client was psychotic at the time of the incident.

“This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” she said in a statement. “It is also a tragedy in that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is.”

If convicted, Walsh faces a sentencing range of 60 to 100 years.

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