Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mom accused of killing her three children during an apparent postpartum psychosis, is asking to add women who suffered similar mental health issues to her witness list.
The motion filed by Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington comes just a week before her first-degree murder trial is set to start at Plymouth County Superior Court.
Reddington asked the judge to “permit testimony from witnesses who have themselves been victimised by the medical system that fail to recognize the severe, debilitating and devastating impact of postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.”
Clancy was charged with three counts of murder for allegedly strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan in January in 2024. She then jumped out a window, leaving her paralyzed and in need of a wheelchair.
Her husband Patrick Clancy filed a wrongful death suit against his wife’s health care providers, who he claims overmedicated her in the lead up to the children’s deaths. Clancy’s husband has been supportive of her, saying that his wife is not a monster, instead blaming mental health as the cause of the three kids’ deaths.
Reddington has taken a similar approach, saying that he will argue what is referred to as an insanity defense and pointing to Clancy’s postpartum psychosis symptoms.
“The medical profession when confronted by mothers who are struggling to adjust to these symptoms are medicated and dismissed,” he wrote in the filing, noting that healthcare providers are only beginning to recognize postpartum psychosis.
He wrote that more than a dozen women have written to him as Clancy’s story has been in the news to share similar stories of suicidal and homicidal ideations, as well auditory and visual hallucinations after birth.
“The ‘voices’ are real and afflict those suffering from this disease,” Reddington wrote. “Society dismisses these conditions as being ‘made up’ or manufactured symptoms to try and avoid responsibility for the criminal act.”
While Clancy awaits trial, she’s been at Tewksbury State Hospital and on suicide watch, according to her lawyer.
Jury selection for her trial starts July 20 at 9 a.m.
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