Prosecutors turned briefly to religion Tuesday as they questioned Lindsay Clancy’s Catholic mother-in-law, asking whether she understood murder to be a mortal sin. The exchange came as the state sought to persuade jurors that Clancy was aware of her actions when, prosecutors allege, she strangled her three young children — countering the defense’s claim that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, all younger than 6. The children were found strangled inside the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in 2023. Prosecutors rested their case Monday morning.
During Tuesday’s testimony, Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham asked Susan Clancy, Lindsay Clancy’s mother-in-law and a practicing Catholic, whether she knew that murder is considered a “mortal sin.”
POSTPARTUM MOM LINDSAY CLANCY ON TRIAL FOR MURDER BRINGS COURT TO A HALT WITH SUDDEN BREAKDOWN
Susan Clancy, Lindsay Clancy’s former mother-in-law, testifies during Clancy’s murder trial in Plymouth, Mass., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Susan Clancy did not respond. Judge William Sullivan quickly called attorneys to a sidebar and ordered the question struck from the record.
On the stand, Susan Clancy told jurors she had grown worried about Lindsay Clancy’s mental health during the 2022 holiday season. Still, she also described her daughter-in-law as a loving and attentive mother.
Lindsay Clancy listens as her mother, Paula Musgrove, testifies during Clancy’s murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
“Lindsay was struggling. We were all very concerned,” Susan Clancy said. “She was very nurturing, very loving. She was a wonderful mother. Wonderful.”
Susan Clancy said she began seeing a decline in Lindsay’s mental health in November 2022.
“She reached out to me in November and told me that she felt unwell,” Susan Clancy said. “She felt … mostly she had insomnia. She was losing her appetite. She was very anxious and sad.
“She was begging for help.”
Paula Musgrove, mother of Lindsay Clancy, enters the courtroom to take the witness stand during her daughter’s murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Paula Musgrove, Lindsay Clancy’s mother, also told jurors about the mental health problems. In an Oct. 20, 2022, text message, Lindsay Clancy asked her mother for help.
A copy of a text Lindsay Clancy sent to her mother is displayed during Clancy’s murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
“Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit? I’m really sick. Something is wrong. I had horrible insomnia all night, and I just don’t know how I am going to get through the day. … It’s just really scary, and I don’t want to be alone,” the text read.
Musgrove said she wasn’t concerned about the children’s safety.
Lindsay Clancy’s defense team will continue presenting its case Wednesday morning as her defense team seeks to convince jurors that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis when she killed her children.
