Teen allegedly had mom help cover up girlfriend’s slaying; Lindsay Clancy jurors speak out - TCN Sidebar

Joshua Ritter (0:11)

Hello, and welcome to The Sidebar, presented by True Crime News, taking you inside the courtrooms of high-profile and notorious cases from across the country. I'm your host, Joshua Ritter. I'm a criminal defense lawyer based in Los Angeles, and previously an LA County prosecutor for a decade. We're recording this on Wednesday, September 9th, 2026 In this week's episode, a family duo behind bars after a teen allegedly killed his girlfriend and then his mother helped him clean it up. Plus, jurors speak out about the stalled deliberations in the mistrial of Lindsay Clancy. But first, a husband accused of his wife's murder is back behind bars after his bail was raised to an insurmountable sum.

Today, we are joined by Jack Rice, an attorney and legal analyst. You can catch on multiple media outlets. Jack, welcome back, my friend. How are you? Just great. Great to be with you.

Jack Rice (1:03)

I'm watching you from afar, my friend. My God.

Joshua Ritter (1:06)

Thank you so much.

A lot of craziness going on in the world. We're going to get into all of it. But first, I'm glad that we have you on as a very experienced trial and defense attorney. We were just talking about how busy you are before we started to record. Because this first case deals with an issue that I think some people, don't entirely appreciate how it works. So that's my setup. Let's just jump into it. Out of Alamosa County, Colorado, a husband released on bond saw his bail raise to a staggering 10 million for alleged bail infractions ahead of his trial for his wife's murder. Initially, Barry Morphew was allowed to walk out of a jail cell after using a bondsman to post bail, offering up 10 percent of the court's original $3 million order. However, on release, Morphew was allegedly behind the wheel in a hit-and-run crash that took place in Denver last month. For that infraction, the judge changed the bond to cash only and then raised the sum to 10 million after prosecutors argued that Morphew posed a flight risk. Morphew faces one count of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared on Mother's Day 2020 Though he had restrictions on his release ahead of the trial, scheduled for July of next year, prosecutors claimed that Morphew was roaming freely for unspecified purposes, even making a trip to the Denver airport. The man's defense unsuccessfully argued that Morphew hasn't attempted to flee in the six years following Suzanne's death and hoped to prove his innocence in court. Now he'll likely be preparing for the case behind bars because of the alleged infractions. So, explain this to us. You know, we talk about bail not really being about money, but in a situation like this, they raise it to $10 million. It's all cash now, meaning he has to come up with $10 million.

Isn't that essentially no bail? And do you think that's the right move? And how will this alter the case?

Jump into this one for us.

Jack Rice (3:12)

Well, of course, it's no bail. I mean, that's the point. But not every jurisdiction is required to set a bail amount. Some can actually hold them or hold somebody over for trial in cases like that. Where I am right now, the judge has to set a bail amount, a cash bail amount without conditions. And then there can be an alternate to that. And so every jurisdiction is a little bit different. But the purpose here was to keep it in jail. I mean, we have to look at the procedural posture of this case and the investigation itself. She disappears in 2020, right? He gets charged in 2021 They dismissed the case in 2022 because they don't have a body. And there is a realistic problem that prosecutors have. I know you were a former prosecutor. I am too. And if you're trying to convince jury that somebody killed somebody else, you better first be able to prove that they're dead. And so that's a piece here. And so in 2022, when they don't have a body, the state dismisses the case. The thing is, they find her body in 2023

So it changes the circumstances. Now, let's look at this case. When a judge is set in bail, generally, there's two ways that they do it. They're going to look at whether or not somebody is a flight risk. In other words, whether or not they're going to reappear.

They're always looking at that issue, right? And the other one is, are they a general danger to society or to a potentially person to a particular person or to society as a whole? So it's different than just simply saying you're going to show back up. It's the concern that they're going to do the things that they're obligated to do as they are ordered by the court. In this particular case, what we have, and I can almost guarantee that part of the conditions of his release are that he remain law-abiding.