Both the prosecution and defense acknowledged that Lindsay Clancy killed her three children in January 2023
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- Clancy, 36, was charged with murder for strangling her three young children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan
- The children were found in the basement of their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023
- Prosecutors argued that Clancy deliberately killed her children, while her defense attorney maintained she was not criminally responsible because she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time
Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mom who has been on trial for killing her three young children, is “scared” and nervous” as she awaits a verdict, her lawyer says.
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, made the comments while he was walking out of the Plymouth County Superior Court on Thursday, Aug. 27, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier in the day, a jury of nine women and three men began deliberating whether Clancy should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of her three young children.
Prosecutors believe Clancy intentionally killed Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan with exercise bands in the basement of their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023.
After the killings, she cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt, which left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Related: Prosecutors Reveal Why They Say Lindsay Clancy Killed Her 3 Children, as Jury Begins Deliberations
Related: Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Says ‘Damn Medicine’ and ‘Lousy Medical Care’ Led to Her Killing 3 Children
Reddington has maintained that the former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital was not criminally responsible because she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time.
Outside the court, per the AP, Reddington said he believed the jury would make the right decision.
“I think that they have to weigh all of this evidence, and I believe that the government ultimately has not proven their case,” he said.
Credit: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The trial has drawn national attention and triggered discussion about postpartum mental health and the treatment of women experiencing psychiatric crises.
During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague didn’t dispute Clancy’s mental health struggles or that she attempted to kill herself.
“That’s not the issue in this trial,” Sprague told jurors. “The issue is whether, at the time she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan, she knew the difference between right and wrong, and whether she could conform her behavior to the requirements of the law.”
Sprague claimed Clancy killed her children because she was “depressed.”
“She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore. She felt damaged,” Sprague said. “But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery. So she had to remove the protective factor.”
“And I’m not saying she was happy about it,” Sprague continued. “I’m saying it was what she had to do to end her misery.”
Reddington said prosecutors “ripped the soul out” of Clancy, arguing that his client received excessive psychiatric medication leading up to the killings.
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In court, he held up a photo of Clancy with her then-husband Patrick and their children and another showing Clancy hospitalized after the killings. He then asked how the family went from the first photo to the second.
“Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she got,” he told jurors.
More than 80 witnesses testified during the proceedings, including medical experts, friends, law enforcement officers and Patrick Clancy, who has since remarried and publicly forgiven his ex-wife.
Jury deliberations resume Friday.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
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