Lindsay Clancy jury to begin deliberations after five-week murder trial

Defense cites postpartum psychosis; prosecutors allege intentional killing

After five weeks of testimony, the jury in the Massachusetts triple-murder trial of Lindsay Clancy is expected to begin deliberations this week. Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 24, 2023, deaths of her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, eight months — at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors have alleged that Clancy intentionally strangled her children with fitness bands before jumping from a second-floor window. She survived the fall but was paralyzed and has attended the trial in a wheelchair.

Clancy’s attorneys have never refuted her role in the killings. Their defense centers on an insanity argument built around severe postpartum mental illness, with attorneys pointing to Clancy’s psychiatric hospitalization in the days before the deaths and to her history of mental-health treatment.

Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, took the stand over two days and described her deteriorating condition in the weeks before the killings. “She started to lose a lot of weight, and she became very depressed, and she was having a really hard time,” he told jurors, saying her “big spiral” began about a month before the deaths. He described intermittent treatment and recalled her telling him she was starting to have thoughts of suicide.

Patrick Clancy recounted the day of the killings in detail, including his last image of his son Dawson sitting on the couch eating chicken nuggets before he left to get food and medication. Lindsay Clancy sobbed in court as a recording of his 911 call was played; in it, he can be heard screaming, “She killed the kids,” after finding the children in the basement.

The trial has also drawn online conspiracy theories about Patrick Clancy’s involvement. He was never a suspect or under suspicion by investigators, Lindsay Clancy has admitted to killing her children, and her attorneys have not denied that.

Lindsay Clancy’s former mother-in-law, mother, and sister also testified about her mental state after the birth of her youngest son. Her former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said her former daughter-in-law was “begging for help” and described insomnia, loss of appetite, anxiety, and sadness. Lindsay Clancy’s mother, Paula Musgrove, said her daughter told her and her ex-husband a month before the deaths that she was having thoughts of harming the children. Her sister, Allison Ozga, told the court that her sister was experiencing suicidal thoughts every day a month before the killings.

More than 10 expert witnesses testified for both sides, with proceedings marked by repeated clashes between defense attorney Kevin Reddington and the prosecution’s psychiatric experts. Jennifer Tufts, one of Clancy’s psychiatrists who testified for the prosecution, said there were “no serious signs that her safety or anyone else’s safety was at risk” and saw Clancy over a dozen times for five months. Defense attorneys pointed to Tufts’s medical notes describing Clancy’s “not hyper, pressured speech,” with “pressured speech” — a rapid, frantic way of talking — interpreted as a possible sign of mania. Tufts told the court she had not intended that reading. “I don’t care what it says. I know what I meant,” she said in response to Reddington’s questioning.

Another prosecution expert, psychiatrist Avram Mack, avoided calling postpartum psychosis a recognized diagnosis. Mack testified that the American Psychiatric Association views postpartum psychosis as only a proposed illness. Pressed by Reddington on whether postpartum psychosis is a diagnosis, Mack at one point responded: “I’m not sure if that specifically answers your question.” In a frustrated tone, Reddington replied: “I don’t care.”

The defense has argued that Clancy suffered from postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which postpartum women can experience mania, depression, or both. Clancy herself has claimed she experienced hallucinations and delusions in the period before the killings, and her attorneys have pointed to that account as part of their argument that she should not be held legally responsible.

Two days before closing arguments, the defense requested a mistrial after prosecutors asked witnesses about Clancy’s Catholic faith. Prosecutors had asked Susan Clancy whether she was aware that murder was considered a “mortal sin,” testimony the judge later asked jurors to disregard. This week, forensic psychologist Kirk Heilbrun testified that he had asked Clancy whether suicide was considered a mortal sin while discussing her Catholic upbringing.

Judge William Sullivan denied the defense’s mistrial request but told jurors the line of testimony was an “absolutely inappropriate area of testimony.” “It is to be stricken. It is not to be considered. I can’t be any more clear of that,” he said.

The five-week trial has drawn hundreds of women in pink shirts to the courthouse, with shirts bearing phrases including “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay.” Thousands watched the court proceedings, and the case has become a focal point for debate over postpartum psychosis as a defense in homicide cases.