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The defense has rested in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three children.
Clancy, 36, is on trial for murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her three children – Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months – at the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home. She has pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
According to the prosecution, Clancy allegedly planned the killings by sending her husband to pick up takeout food and medicine, then, while he was gone, strangling the children to death with exercise bands. Afterward, Clancy cut her wrists and neck and jumped out of a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed.
Clancy’s defense argues that she is not guilty because she lacks criminal responsibility, which is more commonly known as an insanity defense. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington says Clancy she was suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis at the time of the killings.
The case has garnered extensive publicity between drawing attention to postpartum mental health and sparking widespread conspiracy theories.
Here’s a recap of the defense’s case.
Defense rests case against Lindsay Clancy. What it argued
Reddington rested the defense’s case on Aug. 21, on the 18th day of testimony in the trial. He called ten witnesses over the course of five days after the prosecution rested its case on Aug. 17.
In his opening statement, Reddington focused on Clancy’s struggle with postpartum depression, anxiety and ultimately psychosis. He alleged that overmedication culminated in her hearing a male voice telling her to commit the killings.
He also described Clancy as a doting mother who “tried very hard to get the help she needed.”
“These children were loved and nurtured and cared for by her,” he said. “She didn’t want to get rid of her kids because of her selfish life as the government indicates. She loved those children right up to the time of their death.”
Plymouth County Assistant District Attorneys Shanan Buckingham and Jennifer Sprague called more than 70 witnesses to the stand over the course of 14 days of testimony.
In opening statements, Buckingham painted Clancy as a “controlling, meticulous and manipulative” mother, arguing that she committed the murders because she could no longer control “every little detail” of her and her family’s life.
“This was a woman who no longer liked the life she thought she wanted. It was getting harder and harder to control,” Buckingham said.
Regarding Clancy’s mental health treatment in the months prior to the killings, Buckingham also alleged that she “chose to manipulate her providers” and “seek out the quick and easy fix when she was feeling depressed and anxious.”
Highlights from key witnesses called by defense
Witnesses called by the defense ranged from medical providers to some of Clancy’s family members.
Here are a few highlights from key witnesses:
Allison Ozga
Lindsay’s sister Allison Ozga testified that the pair have a close relationship despite living in different states. Throughout late 2022 and into January 2023, Ozga said Lindsay confided in her about struggling with her mental health. The two frequently texted but did not speak on the phone, she said.
Ozga testified that when she saw Lindsay on Thanksgiving 2022, her sister “seemed off from how I’ve seen her in the past.”
“I do remember her saying at one point at the beginning of December something along the lines of, ‘I’m in a really tough spot,'” she said, adding that she “had this gut feeling that something was off.”
She also testified that Lindsay told her she was feeling numb and hopeless and experiencing suicidal ideation in December 2022.
On cross examination, Sprague asked about Clancy’s tone after checking out of McLean Hospital after being admitted to the psychiatric facility for five days in January 2023. Ozga said her sister seemed OK via text.
Ozga, who herself is a social worker and mandated reporter, said she was not concerned that Lindsay would hurt herself or her children.
Paula Musgrove
Paula Musgrove, Lindsay’s mother, called her daughter “loving,” “dedicated” and “fun.”
“She always wanted to be a mother and have many children,” she said. “She would do anything for her children.”
Around December 2022, Musgrove, who lived in Connecticut at the time, said she was frequently visiting her daughter to help with the children as Lindsay’s anxiety worsened. At one point, Lindsay asked her mother to sleep alongside her because she was afraid to be alone, she said.
Musgrove testified that around Christmastime and into January, her daughter had lost weight and become paranoid.
“She would say to me, ‘This isn’t me, I’ve never been like this before.’ And I would agree, because she wasn’t,” she said.
On one occasion, in December 2022, Lindsay told her then-husband Patrick Clancy and Musgrove that she needed to tell them something.
“She told us she had thoughts of harming the children,” Musgrove testified.
Susan Clancy
Susan Clancy, Patrick Clancy’s mother and Lindsay’s former mother-in-law, testified about helping connect Lindsay to practitioners at the South Shore Perinatal clinic, which was affiliated with the hospital she worked at as a nurse.
“She was very nurturing, very loving. She was a wonderful mother,” she said of her former daughter-in-law.
Throughout the holidays, Susan said she and Lindsay texted about how she was doing and the medications she was taking. Lindsay at one point told Susan in a November 2022 text message that she was concerned about being dependent on benzodiazepines because she was unable to sleep without them.
When asked about Lindsay’s attitude toward treatment, Susan said, “She was begging for help.”
On cross-examination, Buckingham asked Susan about the families spending Christmas together, including attending Mass on the holiday together. After confirming that Susan is an active member of the Catholic Church, Buckingham asked, “So you’re aware murder is considered a mortal sin?”
Judge William Sullivan immediately called counsel to a sidebar and when they returned, he instructed the jury to disregard the question.
Paul Zeizel
Paul Zeizel, a psychologist, testified on Aug. 18 and 19 about his relationship with Lindsay.
Zeizel first met Lindsay Clancy at Reddington’s request while she was hospitalized in February 2023, days after the killings. He has met with her a total of roughly 60 times in the past three years, he said.
He testified that, while meeting with Lindsay in the intensive care unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Feb. 4, 2023, she asked to borrow his cell phone to call Patrick. He did not answer, and Lindsay left a voicemail for him. When Zeizel met with her again two days later, Patrick returned the call.
“She told Patrick she loved him very much,” Zeizel said of the Feb. 6, 2023, phone call on speaker. “She was unable to express a lot of emotion, but she expressed love for him. And she had said she heard a male voice ordering her, telling her that she didn’t have any choice, but she had to kill her children and then kill herself.”
Zeizel also testified, based on his many meetings with Lindsay, that he believes she suffered from psychosis at the time of the killings and “had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act.”
On cross examination, Buckingham questioned Zeizel about his continued meetings with Lindsay. He said she has not heard any auditory hallucinations since Jan. 24, 2023.
During Reddington’s redirect, he also asked Zeizel about whether Lindsay speaks of her children. He testified that she does and “thinks about them every single day almost every moment of the day.”
“Lindsay Clancy has bad days, and worse days,” he said.
Sheila Cavanaugh
Sheila Cavanaugh, a chaplain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, testified that she visited Clancy more 200 times while she was being treated in multiple facilities after the killings.
Cavanaugh said Clancy spoke to her for the first time on Jan. 31, 2023, and the first thing Clancy said was “I am so glad my children are safe.”
Clancy talked about her children frequently over the course of their visits, Cavanaugh testified.
She also said Clancy repeatedly mentioned that she heard a persistent male voice, which said she and her children would not be safe unless she followed his commands. Cavanaugh acknowledged under questioning by the prosecution that she did not mention the voice Clancy said she heard in any of the notes she took about their visits.
What could happen to Lindsay Clancy?
Lindsay Clancy is facing three counts of first-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
While more commonly known as not guilty by reason of insanity, Clancy’s defense under Massachusetts law is called a lack of criminal responsibility.
According to a definition read in court by judge William Sullivan, a person is not criminally responsible for their conduct if they have “a mental disease or defect, and as a result of that mental disease or defect, lacks the substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality or the wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.”
In Massachusetts, first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Under Massachusetts law, if a defendant is found not guilty or lacking criminal responsibility, they are typically committed to a state hospital for mental health treatment and evaluation.
Clancy has been held at Tewksbury Hospital, a facility in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, for court-ordered mental health treatment since May 2023.
Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.