The Massachusetts trial in the Clancy case began this week with jury selection in the case of Lindsay Clancy, a woman charged with killing her three children in 2023. Prosecutors say the deaths at her home were planned and deliberate, while her defense team says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty. Her lawyers do not dispute that she carried out the killings, but they are expected to argue that she was not legally responsible and to pursue an insanity defense. The same night, Clancy also attempted to take her own life and was left paralyzed, according to the source material.
Prosecutors allege that Clancy sent her husband, Patrick Clancy, out of the house so he would not be there when the children were killed. Investigators have said she looked into how long those errands would take, apparently to figure out how long she would be alone with the children. The children were identified as Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months old.
Clancy’s defense says she experienced hallucinations and delusions after giving birth and was being treated for psychiatric problems that developed postpartum. In a civil filing submitted earlier this year, Clancy and her husband said her medical providers did not properly diagnose, treat, or monitor what they described as a severe postpartum psychiatric condition. The filing also said she struggled with sleep and heard voices telling her to harm herself and her children.
