The husband of a woman accused of killing their two-year-old son stood by her in court on Thursday as she pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.
Corie Walsh, 40, appeared briefly before a judge on September 24 during a preliminary hearing in the case involving the death of her son, Barrett Walsh.
Walsh appeared in a bright red jail uniform with her hair tied back during the roughly three-minute hearing. She stood beside her attorney, who told the court that the defence had subpoenaed her treatment records from the jail. 
The records, attorney Andrea Lyon later said, were requested to determine whether Walsh was receiving the mental-health treatment she needs.
The defence is also seeking to have Walsh released before trial to a hospital for treatment, despite a judge rejecting an earlier request this month.
Walsh’s husband, Michael Walsh, sat in the public gallery during Thursday’s hearing alongside an elderly couple who appeared visibly emotional.
As Walsh was led from the courtroom after the hearing, she made eye contact with her husband.
Outside the courthouse, friends comforted Michael, with one supporter telling him, “She will get through this, she’s strong.”
Michael was later heard telling another supporter that he had been “packing up” the family home.
Speaking to reporters outside court, Lyon said Walsh’s family remained firmly behind her.
“Her whole family is here today — her husband, mother, mother’s best friend,” the attorney said.
“They love her and this is not — she’s never been violent… she was psychotic. They all know that and want her to get better. This is not who she is,” Lyon added.
According to court documents, Walsh’s two older children discovered Barrett with a rope around his neck and his feet off the ground in the basement of the family’s home in Frankfort, a suburb about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.
The children reportedly ran to a neighbour’s house for help.
The neighbour called 911 and attempted CPR on the toddler, but he had no pulse and was cold to the touch. Barrett was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined that the child, affectionately known as “Bear,” died from “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck,” according to court records.
Police later found Walsh fully clothed in a bathtub containing bloodied water. Investigators allege that she had attempted to kill herself by cutting her wrists and thighs with a dull kitchen knife.
Court documents further allege that Walsh confessed to killing her son and described him as the “anti-Christ” and “devil.”
The case has drawn particular attention because prosecutors allege Walsh had become intensely focused on the high-profile case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children.
Clancy’s defence argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was legally insane when she fatally strangled her children with exercise bands. Her trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial.
According to Walsh’s defence team, she had discussed the Clancy case with neighbourhood friends shortly before Barrett was found.
During an earlier hearing, defence attorney Robert Kerr said Walsh had sent several “confusing” and “out of character” messages about the Clancy case.
Kerr told the court that Walsh had initially expressed one view about Clancy’s case before suddenly changing her position.
A witness reportedly described Walsh as abruptly saying that Clancy was “100% not guilty”, prompting friends to question whether she was okay and whether someone should check on her.
Walsh’s lawyers have argued that she was “severely mentally ill” and experiencing a psychotic episode when Barrett died.
The defence has also rejected suggestions that Walsh deliberately copied Clancy.
“Describing Corie to have copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” Kerr said during a previous hearing, according to a transcript.
