Testimony Ends in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial
Jurors heard from a forensic psychiatrist as the final witness before closing arguments in the case of a mother accused of killing her three children.
Testimony concluded Wednesday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, after jurors heard from 85 witnesses over several weeks in Plymouth Superior Court.
Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday afternoon after calling three rebuttal witnesses. The final witness was Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a forensic psychiatrist and professor of emergency medicine who has worked with the FBI. He testified that in his medical opinion, Clancy was criminally responsible for the killings, citing what he described as significant planning, including sending her husband, Patrick Clancy, to CVS and to pick up takeout food before the deaths.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington challenged Saathoff's qualifications on postpartum psychosis and questioned his conclusions about crushed pills found in a wine tumbler in Clancy's bedroom. Reddington also argued that Saathoff's characterization of the case minimized what Clancy was going through.
After testimony ended, the judge and both sides discussed jury instructions. Over prosecutors' objection, involuntary manslaughter will be included as an option on the verdict slip, along with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge William Sullivan denied a defense request for a "Bowden instruction" concerning the adequacy of the police investigation.
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — at their Duxbury home. She has admitted to killing them, but her defense argues she should not be held criminally responsible because she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors contend she was not psychotic and had planned the killings.
Closing arguments, with an hour allotted to each side, are set for Thursday. If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If jurors find her not criminally responsible, she would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital.
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