PLYMOUTH, Mass. —
Prosecutors will continue to present rebuttal witnesses on Monday in the ongoing murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three children in the family’s Duxbury home in 2023.
Clancy’s defense is arguing that she was not criminally responsible for the killings because she was suffering postpartum psychosis. It is the burden of the prosecution to overcome the lack of criminal responsibility defense, known as the insanity defense.
According to Massachusetts guidance, the defendant must have “retained the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of their conduct and to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law” in order to be found guilty.
The first rebuttal witness called by the prosecution was psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack, who testified that he was asked to review the case and related legal statutes. He said that he interviewed Clancy in April and testified that he did not believe she met the criteria to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Mack he concluded that Clancy was suffering from major depressive disorder but retained the capacity to understand right from wrong. He pointed that while her troubled mental state lasted for months, she was able to control her behavior and conform her conduct to norms.
Additionally, Mack testified on direct examination that when Clancy told the children, “Go to God,” it represents a belief that the children were innocent.
Final defense witness
Before resting his case on Friday, defense attorney Kevin Reddington called forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick to testify. He delivered his testimony via Zoom. Resnick was a key witness in the murder trial of Andrea Yates, who killed her five children in Texas in 2001.
Resnick said he interviewed Lindsay Clancy and her parents in May 2023, four months after the children died.
“She appeared somewhat matter-of-fact, but during that time, the nurses told me she was grieving daily about the loss of her children,” Resnick said.
He said Lindsay Clancy had “severe depression” and a history of anxiety, which grew with the birth of each of her three children to the point that she “felt she couldn’t function.”
“At the time of the crime on Jan. 24, 2023, Miss Clancy was frankly psychotic,” Resnick said. “She was clearly psychotic on that day.”
A voice was “commanding her” to engage in the killings, and Lindsay Clancy believed she had to obey the commands, Resnick said.
Resnick said that, in his opinion, Lindsay Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.
Other key moments from Week 4
Sheila Cavanaugh, a chaplain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, testified Thursday and said she met Lindsay Clancy at the hospital Jan. 25, 2023. Cavanaugh said she remembered “vividly” the first thing Lindsay Clancy was able to say to her after the breathing tubes were removed: “She said to me, as I held her hand to comfort her, ‘I am so glad my children are safe,'” Cavanaugh said. “I replied theologically to Lindsay, and I said, ‘Lindsay, your children are safe. They are safe in heaven with God.'”
Over two days, Dr. Paul Zeizel, a forensic psychologist, testified about his conclusions based on dozens of his meetings with Lindsay Clancy after the killings. He testified that he believed Lindsay Clancy lost substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of her act and was unable to conform to the law because of mental illness. He also testified that Lindsay Clancy had described hearing a male’s voice ordering her to kill the children and then herself and explicitly denied planting that idea with Lindsay Clancy. On cross-examination, however, Zeizel confirmed that there were no records of Lindsay Clancy hearing a voice from prior to the killings.
Susan Clancy, Patrick Clancy’s mother, testified that her former daughter-in-law was “very nurturing, very loving” toward her children. But she also testified that she was aware of Lindsay Clancy struggling with postpartum depression for over a year. “She was begging for help,” Susan Clancy said. “Lindsay was struggling. We were all very concerned.”
Why the judge stopped questioning about Catholicism in the Lindsay Clancy trial
Why the judge stopped questioning about Catholicism in the Lindsay Clancy trial
Lindsay Clancy’s mother, Paula Musgrove, fought through tears as she told the jury she loved her grandchildren “with all her heart.” She described her daughter as a “loving mother” who “would do anything for her children.” Musgrove said her daughter worried that medication was “destroying her mind” and spoke about a time when “she told us that she had thoughts of harming the children.”
Allison Ozga, Lindsay Clancy’s sister, testified that the defendant confided in her that she was struggling with mental health issues in December 2022 and said she “was in a really tough spot.”
Margaret Hamp, a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, worked with Lindsay Clancy for about seven years and testified that the defendant would frequently check in on her children during her shifts. She recalled an incident when one of her children was seen crying on a baby monitor, and Lindsay Clancy called for a wellness check when her husband did not answer the phone.
The defense called Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, a former medical examiner who also testified for the defense in the Karen Read case. Clancy appeared to be crying as Laposata discussed the injuries she suffered in the suicide attempt, including cutting injuries and an interpretation of how her spine was injured when she fell. The testimony appeared designed to counter the prosecution’s suggestions and evidence that minimized the severity of the cuts and raised doubts that she jumped out of the window, based on blood on the shingles.
The final witness for the prosecution was Ian Whiffin, who works for Cellebrite. He testified about the Apple health data and other information extracted from Lindsay Clancy’s phone. Whiffin also testified in the murder trial of Karen Read. He described his review of heart rate data and search history, including a search for symptoms of postpartum psychosis.