Closing arguments begin today in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children to death.
The case is one of the most unique — and tragic — in modern times, having drawn worldwide attention to postpartum mental health.
For many, it has sparked widespread recognition and outrage over the barriers women face in accessing care, and the lack of research into postpartum mental health conditions.
Clancy, 36, doesn’t deny killing her children before attempting suicide, which left her partially paralyzed in January 2023.
Rather, she has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her lawyers arguing she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan.
Clancy is charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Over the five-week trial, prosecutors have called over 70 witnesses, including Clancy’s ex-husband and father of their children, Patrick Clancy.
The trial was the first time the former couple had seen each other since the deaths.
The defense called 10 witnesses, including some of Clancy’s friends and relatives. Her mother, Paula Musgrove, was a key defense witness who discussed how her daughter was feeling and acting before the deaths.
Multiple psychologists and psychiatrists also testified about Clancy’s mental health.
If convicted by a jury, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If jurors find her not guilty because she lacked criminal responsibility, Clancy could be committed to a psychiatric facility.
Following today’s closing arguments, jury deliberations will begin immediately.
Here are some of the key moments from the trial so far:
Lindsay Clancy’s family and ex-in-laws testify for both prosecution and defense
Patrick took the stand as the prosecution’s first witness.
Over two days, he told jurors how his ex-wife’s mental health started declining after giving birth to their third child, Callan, calling it a ‘big spiral.’
Patrick also recalled Clancy being a ‘very dedicated’ mother who did everything for their kids.
Later, he explained how Clancy tried to seek help for her mental health, stating: ‘It wasn’t a matter of trying to get off the medication – it was trying to get on the right medication,’ after prosecutors claimed she sought a ‘quick and easy fix.’
He said Clancy’s ‘big spiral’ started when she began taking a new antipsychotic medication around early December 2022.
Patrick told the court that this was when his ex-wife first admitted to feeling suicidal and having ‘intrusive thoughts’ about harming the kids.
Around one week after killing the children, Patrick recalled Clancy calling him from the hospital.
Patrick said in court: ‘She didn’t talk about our kids, she talked about what she went through. She said she heard a man’s voice telling her that if she didn’t do it now, she would lose her chance – or something like that.’
However, Patrick stated that he does not recall Clancy ever mentioning hearing a man’s voice.
Patrick’s mother and Clancy’s former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, also testified. She agreed with her son that Clancy had been a ‘nurturing mother.’
She told jurors Clancy was ‘begging for help,’ saying: ‘She had insomnia. She was losing her appetite. She was very anxious and sad.’
Clancy’s mother said she thought her daughter’s medications were ‘destroying her mind,’ and that she had expressed thoughts of harming the children a month before the killings.
Meanwhile, Clancy’s sister, Allison Ozga — who reported being close with her sibling — told the court that Clancy had confessed suicidal thoughts to her around the same time.
Divided protesters outside of the courthouse
Last week, around 300 women gathered outside the Massachusetts courthouse while the trial was taking place in support of Lindsay.
People were wearing pink T-shirts that said ‘Believe’, ‘She Needed Help,’ and ‘Peace For Lindsay.’ They all made heart shapes with their hands.
Lindsay’s supporters say she was failed by the system as she asked for help on multiple occasions.
They also say that her case is a harrowing example of failing mental health support for new mothers, and aim to raise awareness of postpartum mental health.
Because of social media sharing misinformation and conspiracy theories, there have also been protestors holding signs claiming that Patrick was responsible for the murders.
Meanwhile, others protested in solidarity with the children, wearing white and holding up signs that say: ‘Justice for Cora, Dawson, Callan,’ ‘The only innocents [are] Cora, Dawson, Callan,’ and ‘Say their name, justice for the real victims.’
They have also told reporters that it is important ‘not to lose sight’ of the fact that three children have died.
Final witness says he doesn’t believe Clancy heard a voice during killings
An FBI psychiatrist, Dr Gregory Saathoff, was one of the final witnesses for the prosecution.
He told jurors he believed Clancy knew right from wrong when she took her children’s lives.
Saathoff also said he believed that the mother-of-three did not hear a man’s voice instructing her to carry out the murders.
He said: ‘Having no instructions as to how to do it, but being able to execute those decisions, that is surprising that she’s able to accomplish all of this without any other kind of direction or plan.’
Saathoff added he believed Clancy ‘had control of the sequence of what she was doing throughout.’
He also said that in the ‘small amount of time’ she ‘had in the home without her husband, it was important, in order to carry this out, as well as her suicide [attempt], to do this quickly, methodically and alike.’
However, forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, the defense’s final witness, testified about the effects of postpartum psychosis.
He argued that Clancy was suffering from a ‘command hallucination’ at the time of the murders.
Resnick said: ‘My opinion is that Ms Clancy was, due to her mental disease, unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law on the day that she took the lives of her children.
‘It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not.’
Resnick added that he believes Clancy experienced ‘not only a command hallucination’ but also ‘a delusion of influence’ on the day of the killings.
‘In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favour by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering,’ he testified.
Lindsay Clancy’s private writings revealed in court
On August 13, Clancy’s internet searches and diary-style entries on her phone from before the killings were read out in court by Massachusetts State Police Detective Timothy Chiappini.
One entry said: ‘I’m sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my first.’
It was revealed Clancy had also had reservations about some of the medications and treatments she was receiving at the time.
Chiappini read Clancy’s hesitation: ‘I’m on the fence about starting a new med or not. I want to feel happy, but it would be nice to feel authentically happy and not fake.’
Jurors also heard that four days before the killings, Clancy searched the web for ‘Can you treat a sociopath?’
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, also read aloud other searches during cross-examination, which said: ‘how to slit your throat to die’ and ‘can you turn airbags off on kia sorrento (sic),’ Clancy’s former car.
Searches from January 2023 — the same months of the killings — also included: ‘schizophrenia,’ ‘hallucinations’ and ‘intrusive.’
Lindsay Clancy breaks down in court
Lindsay Clancy has broken down and sobbed in court on multiple occasions throughout the five-week trial.
On August 12, as a medical examiner testified about the injuries the children suffered, Clancy looked visibly emotional and uncontrollably cried, before saying: ‘I can’t do it.’
She was then wheeled out of the courtroom, while Judge William Sullivan sent the jury out.
This prompted Sullivan to remind the jury that they must remain impartial, and remember the oath they took to obey the law.
He said: ‘I’m instructing you that the law says you must separate any emotional reaction on your part from the informational value and weight that the evidence produces.’
Earlier in the day, Clancy had also sobbed with her head in her hands.
Another occasion saw her cry when prosecutors displayed the clothing worn by her children during the killings.