A jury is to determine whether Lindsay Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She was being treated for postpartum mental health issues when she killed the children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, who was 8 months old. Plymouth County Superior Court Judge William Sullivan is presiding over the jury trial, which began on July 27 and is expected to last six to eight weeks.
Curated by: Meghann Cuniff (223 videos)
The judge in Lindsay Clancy's trial today specially instructed jurors not to consider Clancy's statements to her psychiatrist when deciding if she's guilty of murder for killing her three children. Judge William Sullivan instructed jurors in the midst of testimony from the final defense witness, forensic psychiatrist Philip Resnick, who said Clancy said that, "Not only did she hear a command, but she felt that her body was taken over by an external force, where she was in a dream state and did not have control of her own body." "It's almost like she was a puppet, and someone else was pulling the strings," Resnick testified. “Hold on a second, counsel," Judge Sullivan told Clancy's lawyer Kevin Reddington. He met with attorneys at the bench for about 3 1/2 minutes before telling the jury, "I want to give you an instruction at this point." "I'm going to go into this also a little bit later when I give you the full instructions at the end of the case. But you are not to consider the defendant's statements to any psychiatrist or psychologist as establishing the truth of any facts that are contained ... in those statements. Alright?" Sullivan said. "The defendant's statements to any psychiatrist or psychologist for purposes of evaluation cannot be considered by you as evidence of premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty, or specific intent to kill. Such statements are admissible only as they relate to the basis for the doctor's opinion of the defendant's mental condition," Sullivan said. Prosecutors are seeking three murder convictions against Clancy for the strangulation deaths of Cora and her brothers Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. Her defense is that she's not guilty by reason of insanity because she was in a psychosis related to postpartum problems. Resnick testified for about an hour this morning (Friday, August 21, day 18). You can watch all of it unedited on my YouTube channel and Facebook page.