If a jury determines that Lindsay Clancy was not criminally responsible when her three children were strangled, any civil commitment to a psychiatric facility would not necessarily have a fixed end date — and could be reconsidered annually, a retired judge said.
Retired Massachusetts judge and child welfare advocate Carol Erskine explained in a post on X that Clancy would not automatically be facing “a ‘life sentence in a public mental hospital.’” Instead, Erskine wrote, she could be kept in a hospital setting for years — potentially without a set endpoint — but only if she continued to meet the legal standards required for civil commitment.
Erskine later told News Outlet that the process would begin with the trial judge’s decision.
Lindsay Clancy, who is charged with murdering her three children in Duxbury in 2023, appears in Plymouth Superior Court on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“The initial aspect of what happens is an order by the judge,” she said. “If the judge so orders it, a 40-day evaluation in a locked unit.”
Once that evaluation period ends, officials would conduct a review and hold a hearing to decide whether Clancy should remain committed for a longer period.
“If the recommendation is for a civil commitment because there’s likelihood of serious harm under the statute, then there would be a commitment for a period of six months,” Erskine said. “And that would, again, be in a locked unit.”
Callan, left, Dawson and Cora Clancy. The three children were killed at their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023. (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)
Beyond that, Clancy would be up for review every year to determine whether there is still a likelihood of serious harm and if she should still be committed to a mental institution, she said.
“It’s really impossible to say how long she would be committed if she’s committed because it all depends on if she is initially committed [and] these yearly evaluations,” Erskine said.
Patrick Clancy took the stand as the first witness in the trial. Patrick and Lindsay Clancy were married at the time their three children were killed but have since divorced. (Pool)
After the evaluation, the facility’s superintendent could recommend discharge. If there is a petition to discharge, the district attorney’s office and Clancy’s defense attorney can be heard in court.
Lindsay Clancy reacts as doctors testify about efforts to save her children Friday, July 31, 2026. (Josh Reynolds for Daily Mail /Pool)
That’s just one potential outcome as jurors, who began deliberating Thursday, weigh Clancy’s fate.
Clancy is charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, who was 8 months old. Jurors could find her guilty of first- or second-degree murder, manslaughter, or not criminally responsible via the insanity defense.
Exterior view of the home of Patrick and Lindsay Clancy in Duxbury, MA on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. (David McGlynn for News Outlet)
Investigators have said that after strangling them with exercise bands, she attempted to kill herself by cutting herself and jumping out a second-floor window. The resulting injuries have left her paralyzed.
But her limited mobility is likely not going to be a factor when she is evaluated for her potential for harm in the future, Erskine said.
“I don’t think it would play a huge role in how they evaluate whether she has a mental illness that creates a likelihood of serious harm because we’re talking about serious harm to herself as well,” she explained.
