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- The trial hinges on mental state: defense says rare postpartum psychosis drove the killings, prosecutors insist the acts were intentional.
- Prosecutors allege Lindsay Clancy strangled her children Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months) on Jan. 24, 2023.
- She attempted suicide, jumping from a second-story window and became paralyzed from the waist down.
- Ex-husband Patrick Clancy testified about her deteriorating mental health, intrusive thoughts, and said he forgives her, viewing her as ill.
- She reported hearing voices urging her to kill the children; postpartum psychosis affects about 1 to 2 per 1,000 women.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The former husband of a Massachusetts woman on trial for killing their three young children returned to the witness stand Wednesday, testifying about a day that began with art projects and playtime in the snow and ended with him coming home to find the bodies.
Whether Lindsay Clancy killed her children is not in dispute. But her attorney argues that she was driven by postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Prosecutors contend that she acted intentionally and bears full responsibility for the deaths.
Prosecutors say Clancy strangled the children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — on Jan. 24, 2023, after sending her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, out for some errands. She then used multiple methods to try to end her own life and was paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from the home’s second-story window.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
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Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil.
He was the first witness to take the stand Monday, when he testified about his former wife’s deteriorating mental health in the months before the killings, including describing intrusive thoughts of harming the children and of suicide. But he said she appeared to be doing better as recently as two weeks before the killings.
Patrick Clancy closed out that testimony by going through the day of the deaths, which he said started as one of her “best days.” Lindsay Clancy took Cora to a doctor’s appointment and then returned home to build a snowman with her children and work on art projects.
If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
The trial took a break Tuesday before resuming Wednesday.
Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict only 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality.
On the day of the killings, Clancy said she heard voices telling her, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyer.
Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that can also be dangerous but is much more common.
Postpartum psychosis can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. In a journal article on the subject in 2023, researchers at the Medical University of Lublin in Poland said about half of people with postpartum psychosis have a previous history of psychiatric problems and the most common risk factor associated with the condition is bipolar affective disorder, which causes extreme mood swings.
Clancy’s lawyer said she had bipolar disorder and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition. Clancy sought care from experts in postpregnancy mood disorders, was put on multiple psychiatric medications, and when nothing worked, checked in to a psychiatric hospital. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged.
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