Prosecutors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy called a forensic psychiatrist Friday who pushed back on the defense's central argument that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan. They were strangled at the family's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on Jan. 24, 2023. Clancy also attempted to take her own life.
Defense lawyers do not contest that Clancy was responsible for the deaths. They argue she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.
Forensic psychiatrist Avram Mack, who testified that he reviewed Clancy's medical records and interviewed her twice, argued she was suffering from a major depressive episode, not psychosis. According to ABC News, Mack testified that he could not find symptoms of mania or hypomania in the months before the killings.
"Her history and her description of her experience, in my view, matched a major depressive episode -- I could not find any example of behavior or thinking that corresponded with those elements of mania or hypomania," Mack testified, referencing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Mack testified that the manner in which Clancy killed her children pointed to awareness of her actions.
"I understand the deaths, they were done methodically … one by one, in a way that was organized and that was intended to achieve a particular goal," Mack testified. "Similarly, her attempt at suicide was organized and thoughtful in a sense that it included as many possible methods as possible."
Mack also testified about what Clancy told him she experienced during the killings. He said Clancy told him she heard a male voice that was loud.
"The voice said [something] to the effect of, 'You should kill the kids. This is your last chance, so that you can kill yourself,'" he testified. "She [said] that while that was happening, she was saying out loud, 'Go to God.'"
Mack told jurors that Clancy's reaction when she learned about her actions at the hospital afterward showed she understood what she had done was wrong.
"The feeling of horror, the feeling of shame that comes from being horrified, indicates that she was aware that it had been the wrong thing to do," he testified.
He concluded, "My opinion is that she retained the capacities that were required for having criminal responsibility for these actions."
The defense rested earlier Friday before prosecutors began their rebuttal case.
