WARNING: This article contains details about violence against children and attempted suicide:
The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is making headlines around the world as jurors hear harrowing details of the Massachusetts mother who killed her three young children.
Clancy’s legal team does not deny that she killed her children, but is arguing she shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because she was mentally ill — in the grip of bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says occurs in approximately one to two cases per 1,000 births. Postpartum psychosis can cause extreme mood swings, delusions and confusion, according to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
Prosecutors argue Clancy is guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, having plotted to get her husband out of the house so she could carry out the murders.
The trial, which is being held in Plymouth, Mass., is being livestreamed on CourtTV and major Boston TV stations, as well as YouTube. On Tuesday, the trial moved into day 11, and proceedings are expected to continue for several more weeks.
Here are some details about the case and what court has heard.
The killings
Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, was struggling with her mental health and seeing multiple specialists in 2022. The court has heard she was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications across different providers.
Her attorneys say Clancy did everything she could to seek help: She turned to multiple outpatient providers, tried various drugs they prescribed, called a suicide hotline, went to an emergency room and approached but wasn’t accepted into a hospital-based, full-day treatment program for women with postpregnancy mental health problems. Clancy also checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for several days.
Rather than improving her condition, her attorneys and family say the shifting cocktail of psychiatric medications made things worse.
Cellphone records show that on Jan. 24, 2023, she texted her husband Patrick late in the afternoon, asking him to pick up takeout and medicine.
During his absence from their Duxbury, Mass., home, prosecutors say Clancy used exercise bands to strangle their three children: five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan. She then cut her own wrists and throat and jumped out of a second-storey window in an apparent suicide attempt.
Clancy, who turned 36 on Tuesday, was paralyzed from the waist down and has been attending the court proceedings in a wheelchair.
Court hears diary entries
Opening statements began on July 27, after an 18-member jury was selected.
Patrick Clancy, Lindsay’s now former husband, took the stand early, detailing her mental health struggles and his experience on the day of the killings. Jurors were shaken when his 911 call was played in court.
The court later heard from Duxbury first responders, crime scene analysts and the family’s nanny, who said Lindsay was a “wonderful mom who loved her kids.”
Clancy’s diary entries were also read in court, including a section where she wrote that she was “completely overwhelmed” trying to take care of her children.
“I feel like I’m drowning every day,” she wrote.
She sobbed in court when details of the autopsy reports were read.
Testimony from psychiatrists
Recent days have focused on Clancy’s mental state, including testimonies from her psychiatrists and mental health experts.
On Monday her lawyer probed Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who saw Clancy via video meetings from September 2022 until the day before the killings.
Defence lawyer Kevin Reddington questioned Tufts’ expertise, prescribing decisions and overall treatment, spotlighting her use of 25-minute video appointments and the series of recommended pharmaceuticals.
“I do not believe that I’ve been negligent,” Tufts testified.
Clancy is suing Tufts and other practitioners in civil court.
On Tuesday, another of Clancy’s psychiatrists, Rebecca Jollotta, testified about a concerning mid-December call with the couple during which she heard Clancy had her “worst day” and was “having persistent, intrusive thoughts of suicide.”
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham has urged jurors not to view the trial as “a public debate about women’s mental health and how the medical system treats women,” but rather to focus on the specific actions Clancy took and the intent behind them.
If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole.
If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
Legal expert Margaret McLean told Parade that Clancy’s case would then shift to a “civil commitment process” overseen by the court and mental health experts.
Clancy could eventually be released under strict conditions, or, if her illness is deemed “chronic and dangerous,” she could remain institutionalized for the rest of her life.
If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where to look for help:
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