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.
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A psychiatrist testified today that Lindsay Clancy was depressed but not psychotic when she killed her three young children in January 2023 after seeking treatment for postpartum problems. Prosecutors called Avram Mack as a rebuttal witness after Clancy's lawyer rested his case this morning (Friday, August 21, day 18). Mack works at Nemours Children's Health in Delaware and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He reviewed Clancy's medical records and criminal case at the request of prosecutors, who are seeking three murder convictions against her. Clancy's defense is that she is not guilty by reason of insanity because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and didn't know what she was doing. Mack said he saw no indication of mania or psychosis and believes Clancy was severely depressed. "My opinion about her diagnosis in the span from 2022 to 2023 is that she suffered from what's called a major depressive episode," Mack testified. "What made you come to that conclusion based on her presentations?" asked Shanan Buckingham, an assistant district attorney in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. "The information about her feelings and the progression of her illness highlighted that it was best represented by a major depressive episode," Mack answered. The condition is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder as "where an individual displays problems with mood, problems with feeling pleasure, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, problems with appetite, problems with sleep, preoccupation with death or suicide, poor concentration, poor energy, perhaps also what's called psychomotor agitation or retardation." Clancy's description of her experience "matched a major depressive episode," Mack said.