Friday’s testimony ended in a tense courtroom exchange, as defense attorney Kevin Reddington and Dr. Avram Mack clashed so forcefully that the judge stepped in while the two repeatedly spoke over one another.
Reddington’s frustration appeared to build as his cross-examination of Dr. Mack continued.
In one sharp moment, Reddington asked Mack, “Your area of interest is in adolescents who like to smoke weed and drink, isn’t it?”
“No,” the psychiatrist replied.
Reddington then pushed further, questioning whether Mack had “ever come within breathing distance of a pregnant woman.”
He continued challenging the psychiatrist’s experience treating women, asking how many female patients he had seen before appearing to suggest Mack was inventing portions of his testimony: “What are you making this up?”
At one point, Reddington held up a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, commonly known as the DSM, as he pressed Mack on his conclusions.
He emphasized to jurors that postpartum psychosis is not identified as a separate diagnosis in the DSM, the manual widely viewed as the psychiatric field’s diagnostic “Bible.”
‘I didn’t write the DSM, so I’m not here to represent it,’ Dr Mack replied as he testified as an expert witness for the prosecution.
Reddington then directed Mack to a section of the manual noting that women with bipolar disorder have an ‘increased risk of mood episodes’ during pregnancy.
Earlier, Mack testified that Clancy had the capacity for criminally responsibility when she ‘methodically’ killed her three children.
He testified that her phrase ‘go to god’ was ‘not only hope for the children but a description of the situation.’
‘The deaths were done one by one in a way that was organized and tended to achieve a particular goal. Her attempt at suicide was also organized in that it included as many methods as possible,’ Mack said.
