LINDSAY CLANCY VERDICT STORY

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Option 1- The judge has declared a mistrial in the Massachusetts murder case that has captivated headlines and put a spotlight on postpartum health. The jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial were unable to reach a unanimous verdict after over three days of deliberations.

Option 2- Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother whose case has captivated headlines and put a spotlight on postpartum health, has been found ____ by a unanimous jury.

Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 deaths of Cora Clancy, Dawson Clancy and Callan Clancy. Her three children were all under the age of 5 when they were found strangled to death in the basement of their Duxbury home.

Clancy was found lying in the snow outside after a failed suicide attempt. She is now paralyzed from the waist down.

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Her defense argued that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her children and had been overmedicated. The Commonwealth argued that Clancy premeditated the killings after sending her husband out to get takeout and medication and should be held criminally responsible.

Three men and nine women deliberated for over days, with multiple options on a verdict including first-degree murder, manslaughter, and not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. The jurors were even deadlocked on Tuesday morning and were asked to continue their deliberations.

911 call

The trial lasted a little over a month in Plymouth Superior Court, with more than 70 witnesses called by the Commonwealth.

Jurors heard the 911 call from Clancy’s ex-husband Patrick Clancy, who testified that on the day of the murders, Clancy was having one of her “best days” when she sent him out to get takeout and medication for their daughter.

When he came home, he found the house unusually silent and discovered his wife outside.

He soon found his children in the basement with exercise bands around their necks, telling the dispatcher, “She killed the kids!”

Testimony from health providers

Jurors also heard testimony from Clancy’s former health providers, including Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who diagnosed Clancy with generalized anxiety and mood disorder.

Clancy and her family are currently suing Tufts and other health providers for negligence.

Tufts saw Clancy multiple times in the months leading up to the deaths of her three children, with 25-minute video sessions that Clancy’s defense criticized.

Witnesses described Clancy’s declining mental health, including her mother, who testified in late December that Lindsay told her and Patrick she had thoughts about hurting the children. She struggled with sleeping and suicidal thoughts, especially after the birth of her last child, Callan. Lindsay’s mother-in-law, Sue Clancy, referred her to a program at South Shore for mothers struggling with postpartum issues where she also sought care.

Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington said Clancy called the suicide hotline twice and was turned away. He also said she tried to admit herself to a program at Women and Infants, where they indicated she was overmedicated.

“What did you do? You had a woman who was telling you she felt hopeless,” Reddington asked Tufts.

“I told her that this was something we could address, that there was hope, that there are treatments, that there are different types of programs,” Tufts said, “so she knew that she still had options and a reason to hope.”

Tufts indicated that Clancy never had a plan for killing herself and never expressed thoughts of killing her children. She also didn’t think Clancy had psychosis.

The voice

Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist, testified for the defense that he saw Clancy in the hospital after she killed her children.

Zeizel told the jury he let Clancy use his cell phone to call her husband, during which she told him she heard a male voice commanding her, telling her she had no choice but to kill herself and kill her children.

He said he believed Clancy was going through postpartum psychosis when she killed her children. A chaplain also corroborated Zeizel’s statement, saying Clancy told her she had also heard a voice.

The defense’s expert on filicide, Philip Resnick, said he examined Clancy four months after the murders and also believed Clancy was experiencing psychosis and postpartum symptoms on the day of the murders.

The prosecution’s experts told the jury they believed Clancy knew right from wrong, with one cutting off the postpartum period at four months and did not believe she had hallucinated voices.

Closings

Both sides had an hour for their closings, with Reddington showing photos of Clancy with her children.

“This is a prosecution that has ripped the soul out of this girl,” Reddington told the jury.

“(She was) visiting doctors, seeing doctors, going to Rhode Island. Sorry, we can’t help you. Calling a suicide hotline, we can’t help. Calling another suicide hotline, we can’t help. My God, what does she have to do? She was reaching out for help, and she was not getting it,” Reddington said.

Assistant District Attorney Sprague said Clancy was frustrated over her mental health struggles and killed her children as part of a failed suicide attempt.

“Why did she specifically do it? She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore,” Sprague said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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