Trial Reaches Defense Phase

The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the 36-year-old Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children in January 2023, has moved into its defense phase after prosecutors rested their case on Monday, August 17, 2026. Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children Cora (5), Dawson (3) and Callan (8 months), who were found in the basement of the family's home in Duxbury.

In opening statements, the prosecution, led by Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham, alleges that Clancy planned the murders and faked a suicide attempt. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has said that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible because she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, admitted to killing her children but has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense Witnesses Detail Mental Health

The defense's first witness was Margaret Hamp, a labor and delivery nurse at Mass General Hospital who worked with Clancy. Hamp testified that when they first worked together, Clancy was shocked to learn that a pregnant patient had plans to harm herself. Hamp said she asked Clancy if she was familiar with the case of Andrea Yates, and Clancy responded that she could not understand how a mother could hurt her children, crying at the thought of it.

The defense also called family members who testified about Clancy's worsening mental health and attempts to fix it through psychiatric treatment and medications before the killings. The jury heard from a psychologist and a hospital chaplain who met with Clancy after the killings.

The defense rests

After several days of testimony, the defense rested on Friday, August 21. Its final witness was Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and an expert in filicide—the killing of a child by a parent. Resnick, who testified in the 2006 trial of Andrea Yates, said that Clancy was "clearly psychotic" on the day of the killings and described her experience as feeling an "external force" take over her body, "almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings."

Resnick said Clancy was under the influence of a command hallucination and believed she was doing her children a favor by sending them to heaven with her. He acknowledged under cross-examination that Clancy did not disclose thoughts of harming her children to medical providers, but he said that was common for women suffering from postpartum psychosis.

Prosecution's Rebuttal: Non-Expert Opinions

After the defense rested, the prosecution began calling rebuttal witnesses, noting that this is protocol when an insanity defense is presented. The first was forensic psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack, who interviewed Clancy in April.

Mack testified that Clancy described feeling "miserable" and not wanting to be alive. On the stand, he said that he found no evidence that she suffered from mania or psychosis, and he concluded that she likely had a major depressive episode and anxiety. When asked whether Clancy retained the ability to conform her behavior to the law and to be aware of the wrongfulness of her acts, Mack said "that she had retained that capacity."

Mack's testimony stood in sharp contrast to Resnick's assessment, leaving the jury to weigh two different portraits of Clancy's mental state.

Another prosecution witness, Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, a forensic psychologist, challenged the defense's claim of postpartum psychosis, saying that Clancy's account of hearing a voice for about 18 minutes was "highly unusual" and suggested that her reported hallucinations might have been "exaggerated or fabricated." Heilbrun offered a theory of "suicide combined with altruistic filicide" in the case, in which a parent kills a child out of a delusional belief that the child is better off dead.

Court delays and controversies

The trial has been marked by a few legal skirmishes. On Wednesday, court was delayed at one point due to an "unforeseen circumstance," and the jury was sent home early. Judge William Sullivan also denied a defense motion to find Clancy not guilty or to reduce the charges from first-degree to second-degree murder.

The judge also denied the defense's bid to call Emily Thorndike, a therapist who worked at McLean Hospital before Clancy's stay there and who later made a TikTok video about the conditions at the hospital. Thorndike had said that the hospital had a minimal staff, no therapy, and that patients' family contact was limited. But Judge Sullivan ruled her testimony was not relevant because she left the hospital a year before Clancy was a patient there.

A mistrial was requested by the defense after forensic psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun brought up Clancy's Roman Catholic background and the concept of sin in the context of discussing suicide. Kevin Reddington said that Heilbrun's testimony was "intentional misconduct" and asked for a mistrial. Judge Sullivan denied the motion but instructed the jury to disregard anything related to religion—which had been a point of contention earlier when Clancy's former mother-in-law was asked about murder as a "mortal sin." He also sent the jury home early.

The Decision that Awaits

The jury is being asked to decide whether Clancy, who has been paralyzed from the waist down since an alleged suicide attempt and remains on 24/7 suicide watch, was able to understand right from wrong or to act within the law. If she is found guilty of first-degree murder, a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole would apply. A lesser murder conviction could carry a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.

If she is found not guilty should be committed to a state psychiatric facility indefinitely, pending periodic evaluation. Legal analyst Caroline Polisi of CBS News has compared her case with that's of Andrea Yates, who remains in a psychiatric facility.

Closing arguments are expected to begin early next week, with Judge Sullivan saying that if the testimony concludes by Friday, closing arguments could be held Monday; otherwise, they would be Tuesday.

The case has drawn outside attention, with hundreds of women demonstrating in the courthouse in support of Clancy, wearing pink and holding signs saying "She Needed Help." The trial has reignited discourse about maternal health care, particularly the under-diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. Researchers estimate that it affects one to two out of every hundred thousand women after giving birth, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

"Women are being dismissed, neglected and ignored when we speak up," said April Vincent, who attend one of the rallies.

The defense's outcome will rest with six jurors who must decide may decide that Clancy was either a fabulist who faked symptoms, or a mother who was "clearly psychotic" and was not in control of her actions.