Forensic psychiatrists for both the defense and prosecution agree that Duxbury mother Lindsay Clancy was hearing voices on the day she strangled her three children, but disagree on whether that makes her culpable for their murders.
That testimony came Friday as the the defense rested its case that argued Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis the night of Jan. 24, 2023, when she strangled her three children with exercise bands in the basement of the family home, and is thus not criminally responsible.
The weeks-long trial is nearing closing arguments, as Judge William Sullivan recessed the jury for the weekend Friday afternoon, its 18th day of testimony, with the prosecution’s first rebuttal expert witness still on the stand.
The jury heard from two forensic psychiatrists, one who backed the defense’s claim and the other who who supported the prosecution’s argument that the mother knew she was breaking the law when she strangled them to death.
The defense
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington finished his insanity argument by presenting Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who has served as a crucial witness in other major cases, such as Andrea Yates, a Texas mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001.
Resnick, who testified virtually, said he interviewed Clancy and her parents in May 2023, months after she killed her children.
The psychiatrist said Lindsay appeared “somewhat matter-of-fact, but she was still grieving” the deaths of her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months.
During the interview, Resnick said Clancy appeared to minimize rather than exaggerate her symptoms, which he described as severe depression, evidence consistent with bipolar disorder, and hearing a voice commanding her to kill her children.
At the time of the killings, Resnick argued, the mother met the criteria for postpartum psychosis.
“She was clearly psychotic on that day,” he said.
Resnick argued that Clancy lacked criminal responsibility because she couldn’t control the commanding hallucinations that convinced her the killings were “morally right.”
“She felt that she had to obey the instructions,” Resnick testified. “It was a matter where she was just following the command, rather than being able to make any decision to do this or not.”
“In her mind,” he added, “she believed that she would be doing her children a favor by having them go to heaven with her, rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering.”
In the middle of Resnick’s testimony, Judge Sullivan instructed jurors that they cannot consider any statements Clancy made to doctors as substantive evidence.
Clancy’s defense does not dispute that she killed her children but contends that she, despite being a loving and devoted mother, was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.
After killing the children, Clancy tried to kill herself and was left paralyzed from a fall out of a second-story window of the family’s Duxbury home.
The commanding voice presents a major sticking point in the arguments for whether or not Clancy is criminally responsible for the deaths.
The prosecution
Prosecutors called Dr. Avram Mack, a Philadelphia-based forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Clancy this past April at Tewksbury Hospital, where she’s being held in state custody.
Mack agreed that Clancy was hearing a voice in her head to kill the children. He added that the mother told her children, “Go to God,” as she was strangling them with exercise bands in the basement.
The sentiment “Go to God,” Mack argued, is evidence that Clancy knew her children were innocent and recognized what she was doing was wrong.
“Not only was it a hope for the children,” the psychiatrist said, “it was a description of the situation.”
Mack said his interview with Clancy and review of her criminal file and medical records led him to believe that the mother retained the capacity for criminal responsibility.
He reiterated Clancy was clearly struggling from a “major depressive episode,” a mental state that allowed her to control her behavior, which the psychiatrist testified continued for months.
“There doesn’t seem to be any deviation from where she had been all along,” Mack said of Clancy’s mental state the day of the deaths.
What’s next
Jurors are expected to hear closing arguments next week.
“You’ve now heard more evidence, you’ve heard testimony from a number of people, you’ve gotten more and more exhibits,” Sullivan told the jurors at the end of the day, “but you still have to keep that open mind because you haven’t heard all of the evidence, you haven’t heard closing arguments.”
“You haven’t even heard of the law to apply to this to arrive at your verdict,” the judge added. “Keep an open mind. … We are well on schedule.”
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