According to Megyn Kelly, Lindsay Clancy’s mental state falls short of Jeffrey Dahmer’s as murder trial wraps up
Megyn Kelly challenged the legal standard of insanity in the Lindsay Clancy case on Tuesday, August 25, arguing that the 36-year-old Massachusetts mother’s mental state is nowhere near as bad as that of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
During “The Megyn Kelly Show,” she pointed out that if anyone should qualify as legally insane, it would be Dahmer, who killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. A jury rejected Dahmer’s insanity plea in 1992 despite testimony about his mental disorders.
“I’m sorry, but Lindsay Clancy is far closer to sane than Jeffrey Dahmer was, but she’s trying the same defense,” Kelly said. “I personally am not convinced that she suffered from postpartum psychosis or any psychosis at all.”
“The standard is incredibly difficult to meet,” Kelly noted. “If somebody would ever meet the definition of legally insane, it should be somebody like a Jeffrey Dahmer.”
Yet even Dahmer, widely regarded as one of America’s most disturbing serial killers, could not convince a jury he was legally insane despite the documented severity of his mental disorders and cannibalistic urges.
Kelly blames medical facilities for Clancy’s insanity
While Kelly emphasized that Clancy bears responsibility for her actions, she also acknowledged the role that institutional failures played.
Clancy had sought help multiple times before the killings and she was turned away twice from a suicide hotline and redirected to her medical provider without being offered hospitalization.
Kelly noted that Clancy’s doctors appeared to be mismanaging her medication once prescribed.
“There’s tons of documentation that she was losing it mentally,” Kelly said. “She did try to seek help repeatedly. These doctors seemed terrible, not managing her medication once they gave it to her.”
Lindsay Clancy’s trial
The trial of Clancy, who admitted to killing her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and 8-month-old son Callan at their Duxbury home, has consumed the Massachusetts court system for weeks.
On the night of the murders, Clancy asked her then-husband Patrick to pick up medicine for Cora and grab takeout nearby. When he returned home, he discovered his wife paralyzed from a two-story fall from their bedroom window and their three children dead in the basement.
The defense did not contest that Clancy killed the children.
Instead, her attorney Kevin Reddington argued she should not be held criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis, a psychiatric condition and other mental health struggles.
Testimonies that have shaped the case
The defense called 10 witnesses, including Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist with an extensive resume who testified that Clancy was suffering from major depression and bipolar disorder with a postpartum onset and that “she was frankly psychotic” on the day of the crimes.
In rebuttal testimony, Dr. Avram Mack, a psychiatrist called by prosecutors, argued that Clancy was experiencing a major depressive episode without psychosis. He testified that even if Clancy had been psychotic, she likely still would have known right from wrong and been able to control her behavior.
The final phase of the hearing
Testimony concluded on Tuesday with the prosecution resting its rebuttal case. Closing arguments were scheduled for Thursday, with the jury set to weigh whether Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.
If found not criminally responsible, she would be sent to a state mental health facility. Jurors have been given the option to consider manslaughter charges as well as the first-degree murder counts.