Jurors in the trial of Lindsay Clancy have begun deliberating over whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for the deaths of her three young children.
Clancy, 36, has been on trial in Plymouth Superior Court since July 20, where prosecutors have argued they proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she intended to kill five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan on January 24, 2023.
The former nurse has acknowledged strangling the children that day, but she pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, with her defense pointing to psychosis they say was triggered by a combination of medications prescribed for postpartum depression.
A 12-member jury will now weigh the evidence behind closed doors and decide whether Clancy is guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.
The panel includes nine women and three men, with a woman serving as foreperson. Jurors have not been sequestered while they deliberate.
Judge William Sullivan added manslaughter as an option during a charging conference on Wednesday. The lesser conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while a murder conviction can bring a life sentence.
If the jury is unable to reach a unanimous decision, the proceedings will end in a mistrial.
The specific form of manslaughter has not been identified. Clancy’s defense team had earlier pushed for an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The jury has been sent out to deliberate in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial. She has admitted to killing her children, but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis. (Pictured: Clancy in court on Thursday)
Cora, five, Dawson, two, and 11-month-old Callan were found strangled to death by exercise bands in the basement of the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, on January 24, 2023
If Clancy is found guilty of murder, she will be sentenced to life in prison. If she is found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she will be committed to a state mental health facility.
Jurors were sent out after both prosecution and defense lawyers made their closing speeches and a judge summed the case up.
During closing arguments on Thursday, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, accused the state of ‘manipulation.’
‘Watch the manipulation,’ he said as he pointed out the holes in the investigation, with him and Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, finding bottles of pills in the bedside drawer. They were not found during the police search.
He also slammed the prosecution for claiming that his client faked a suicide attempt.
He said the prosecution described her suicide attempt as ‘dinky little cuts,’ and ‘sliding down the house.’
‘Lindsay screwed up and she hurt herself bad? You know that’s not what happened,’ Reddington said.
‘She made a very significant suicide attempt.’
In the end, he pushed back on the state’s theory that Clancy wanted out of the life she had.
‘The mess that this young lady was in in her brain,’ he said. ‘That’s the evidence. That’s the evidence we have in this case. ‘There’s no evidence she was lying,’ Reddington said.
‘This young lady is not guilty of the killing of her young children because she was suffering from a disease and defect,’ he concluded.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague then delivered her closing argument.
She started off by saying: ‘There’s no dispute that she suffered mental illness and she tried to kill herself,’ Sprague said.
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington (left), and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague (right) each delivered their closing arguments before the jury was sent out to deliberate
She called the focus on postpartum mental health a ‘distraction.’
The prosecution again emphasized that they believe Clancy was in her right mind when she killed her children, and pointed to the discussion she had with her husband and mom that she had thought of harming her kids in December – a month before.
‘But she did not tell a single medical provider because she feared her children would be taken away, Sprague said. ‘That is a rational thought.’
Sprague went on to graphically detail what the children went through while they were being strangled to death.
She also insisted that the bands were not tied. ‘You know they weren’t knotted. Patrick never testified they were knotted.’
‘You know to a moral certainty she is guilty,’ Sprauge said as she walked back to her seat.
Over the course of about five weeks, prosecutors and the defense have brought in a series of witnesses to take the stand for a hearing that has been dubbed America’s saddest murder trial.
Clancy, who is confined to a wheelchair after trying to kill herself moments after her children’s deaths, repeatedly broke down in tears as evidence was shared.
At one point, she declared, ‘I can’t do this,’ as she sat through the graphic testimony from a medical examiner who documented her slain children’s injuries.
The jury and courtroom had to be cleared twice that day as she quickly became overcome with emotion hearing the injuries that she inflicted on her own children.
Dr Barbara Olson described the neck trauma and injuries to Cora’s arms and legs, and said that Dawson died of asphyxia after Clancy strangled the children with exercise bands.
The case has widely been considered America’s most heartbreaking family tragedy
Clancy put her head down on the defense table and sobbed as she was reminded of those details.
Clancy also witnessed her loved ones, including her mother, Paula Musgrove, and her sister, Allison Ozga, taking the stand in her defense.
Patrick testified just a week into the trial. He was called forward by the prosecution, and he was also a witness for the defense.
Patrick’s mother, Sue Clancy, also took the stand in her ex-daughter-in-law’s defense.
Sue faced intense questioning, including from Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham, in a moment that shocked even the judge.
Buckingham asked Sue, a devoted Catholic, if she is aware that ‘murder is considered a mortal sin.’ A sidebar was immediately called by the judge afterward.
She also testified that Clancy loved all her children, and described her as a ‘nurturing’ and ‘wonderful mother.’
Sue rejected the prosecution’s suggestion that Clancy disliked her middle son Dawson.
‘Did you see her treat her middle son, Dawson, bad because she didn’t like him?’ defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked her.
‘No,’ Sue said.
Reddington asked: ‘Did she love Dawson in your opinion?’
‘She loved her children, all of them, very, very much,’ Sue said.
As she walked away from the stand, Sue nodded with intention at Clancy.
Clancy is represented by her defense attorney Kevin Reddington (pictured together on July 22)
After she killed her children, Clancy went up to the bedroom upstairs and jumped out of the window after injuring herself with a knife in an alleged suicide attempt.
She was found by her then-husband, Patrick, lying in the snow after he came back home from running an errand to CVS Pharmacy and picking up their take-out dinner order.
Patrick testified that he called 911 while outside with his then-wife, before she told him: ‘I tried to kill myself. They’re in the basement.’
When first responders got to the home, Patrick made his way downstairs and found his dead children.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US at 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.
