Lindsay Clancy trial: Mother-in-law gives dramatic testimony

The murder trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsey Clancy is now in its fourth week, and the focus inside the courtroom hinges on one central question. Was Clancy criminally responsible when she killed her three children? Clancy is accused of strangling her five-year-old daughter, three-year-old son, and eight-month-old son in 2023 before attempting to take her own life by jumping from a second story window, which has left her paralyzed from the waist down. Her defense does not dispute that she killed the children. Instead, they argue that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis, along with other mental health problems, and should not be held criminally responsible. Meanwhile, the prosecution argues that Clancy knew what she was doing and planned the killing. Stakes are enormous, and conviction on the murder charges could mean life in prison without parole, while a finding of not guilty by reason of sanity could could mean psychiatric commitment rather than just simply walking free. This case is really gripping the intention of a lot of people all across the nation and the world. Kaylee Schuyler is following the trial for us and joins us from Plymouth, Massachusetts with the very latest. Good morning, Kaylee. Let's start where things are today. What's happening inside that courtroom? Hi there, Sandra and Araxia. So right now, arguments are being made about a witness the defense wants to call. Her name is Emily, and she's a social worker that worked at a psychiatric hospital that Clancy was later admitted to. She was saying in court that she believes that some of the prosecution's testimony about the hospital was a little bit misleading, and she posted a TikTok about it. The defense saw this and decided to track her down by using a private investigator. They ultimately found her, and so right now they're making arguments about whether the jury will be able to hear her testimony or not about that hospital. But on the stand for most of the day has been a forensic psychologist, Dr. Paul Zeisel, and the defense hired him, and he says he met with Clancy more than 45 times after she killed her children. One of the first times they met was just a week after the murders when she was still in the hospital, and he says that during that visit, Clancy asked to use his phone so she could call her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, and during that call, Clancy said that voices told her to Wow. It's just so hard to still hear some of the details here. The defense now has taken over the case, and some of the things we're learning. Talk a little bit about that mental state in the days and months leading up to the killings because a number of people who've taken the stand talk about the fact that even her mother saying she had received a text message from her saying, Hey, Mom, can you come stay with me? I'm not feeling well. I'm afraid I'm not in the right state of mind. Yeah, it's been interesting. It's been very heavy testimony this week. So we heard from her mom who said she was paranoid and that sometimes she was scared to sleep alone. And so her mom would come visit a few times a month. And then yesterday we heard from Clancy's former mother-in-law, Susan, and she said that Lindsay was begging for help in the months leading up to the murders and that she even noticed a change in Lindsay. Now the prosecution is trying to poke holes in this argument yesterday when the prosecution was able to ask questions to the former mother-in-law. They asked, you know, were you thinking about, you know, committing her to a psychiatric ward? And they, she said, no. And she said, did you ever think about taking her away from the children? She said, no. And they kind of asked why. And she said, well, it's because I was, I was there a lot. Hmm. Yeah. It's very difficult to kind of wrap your mind around what exactly was happening with each person involved, especially surrounding Lindsay Clancy, especially. So how significant is this testimony that many people are providing that she in fact was telling people that she heard those voices in her head in order for her to take action and kill her children? Yeah. So the whole, you know, the big question in this case was, was Lindsay Clancy experiencing a postpartum psychosis when she killed her children and then attempted suicide after the fact. And so the prosecution here, they have to prove without a reasonable doubt that Lindsay Clancy was in her right mind when she carried out with these killings. So I think with every single witness that we hear from that says she wasn't doing well, she tried to get the help she needed because her defense says that she was trying to get help. She called the suicide hotline. And they also said that her symptoms became worse when she was prescribed 13 different medications over the course of a year. So I think for the defense, anyone that they can get to come up and say that she wasn't doing well is great for their case. Now the prosecution just has to prove that they think she was in her right mind and this was premeditated. Wow. All right, Kaylee, thank you so much. Appreciate you taking your time. So many details there in this case that the nation really is closely watching.