Lindsay Clancy’s defense is preparing to rest its case after calling a forensic psychiatrist to testify about her mental state when she killed her three children. Dr. Phillip Resnick took the stand Friday as the final defense witness in the high-profile murder trial, which has centered on whether Clancy was criminally responsible for the January 2023 killings. The defense maintains that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder. Prosecutors argue that she planned the killings and understood her actions.
Clancy is charged with murdering her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, inside the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24, 2023. Her attorneys do not dispute that she strangled the children with exercise bands. However, Clancy has pleaded not guilty and claims she lacked criminal responsibility because of her mental condition.
After the killings, Clancy fell from a second-story window while attempting to take her own life. She survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down and now uses a wheelchair.
According to Boston 25 News, prosecutors are expected to call three rebuttal witnesses after the defense rests. Closing arguments could begin Monday or Tuesday. Jurors will ultimately be asked to determine whether Clancy was criminally responsible when she killed the children.
Under Massachusetts’ homicide instructions, a defendant can be found not criminally responsible if a mental disease or defect prevented the person from appreciating the wrongfulness of the conduct or conforming their behavior to the law.
Dr. Resnick’s testimony follows an emotional day in court involving Sheila Cavanaugh, a chaplain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who visited Clancy after the killings. Cavanaugh recalled holding Clancy’s hand during a January 31, 2023, visit, approximately one week after the children died. “She said to me as I held her hand to comfort her, “I’m so glad my children are safe,”‘ Cavanaugh told the jury.
The chaplain said she responded by reassuring Clancy that the children were in heaven. “I replied theologically to Lindsay, and I said, “Lindsay, your children are safe. They are safe in heaven with god.”
Cavanaugh initially visited Clancy while she was hospitalized at Brigham and Women’s. She later continued seeing her at Tewksbury Hospital, where Clancy has been held during the legal proceedings.
The chaplain estimated that she visited Clancy at least 14 times at Brigham and Women’s and approximately 200 times at Tewksbury. “Lindsay talks frequently about her children. She loves them deeply. She carries immense grief,” Cavanaugh told the court.
Chaplain Says Clancy Reported Hearing A Voice
Cavanaugh also testified that Clancy described hearing a voice that instructed her to kill the children. “She alluded to having heard a voice, and the voice, according to Lindsay, told her that if she did not follow the command, neither she nor her children would be safe,” Cavanaugh said.
Prosecutors challenged that account by pointing out that Cavanaugh did not include the alleged voice in the notes she made following her visits. Cavanaugh explained that her notes were not intended to serve as word-for-word records of their conversations. She also emphasized that she was providing spiritual care rather than conducting a medical or psychiatric evaluation.
The alleged voice is important to the defense’s argument because hallucinations and delusions can be symptoms of postpartum psychosis. The condition is rare, affecting approximately one or two people per 1,000 births, and is considered a psychiatric emergency, according to a National Institutes of Health review. Symptoms can include paranoia, severe confusion, hallucinations and delusions.
Whether Clancy was experiencing those symptoms at the precise time of the killings remains one of the central disputes in the trial.
Prosecutors Say The Killings Were Planned
The prosecution has presented a different account of Clancy’s actions, arguing that she deliberately arranged to be alone with the children. On the day of the killings, Clancy asked her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave the house to collect takeout food and pick up medication from a pharmacy. Prosecutors allege that she used his absence to strangle Cora, Dawson and Callan.
Her attorneys argue that the errands were ordinary family tasks and do not prove that she formed a plan to kill the children.
The trial has already featured testimony from Patrick, other relatives, Clancy’s doctors and several mental health experts. Her medication history and repeated attempts to obtain psychiatric help before the killings have also been examined closely.
Supporters Gather Outside The Courthouse
The case has attracted significant public attention, with hundreds of Clancy’s supporters gathering outside Plymouth Superior Court on Thursday for a silent event called “Stand In Peace For Lindsay.” Many participants wore pink and said they wanted to raise awareness about postpartum mental illness.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. A finding that she was not criminally responsible would instead place her future under Massachusetts’ mental health commitment process.