Mu-rd-er, Man-slaughter—or Not Guilty? Jury Faces ...

Mu-rd-er, Man-slaughter—or Not Guilty? Jury Faces Sh0cking Choice as Prosecutors Reveal Why They Say Lindsay Clancy K-ill-e-d Her Children

Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial heard closing arguments Thursday and the judge presiding over the case issued instructions to guide them as they apply the law during deliberations.

Judge William Sullivan has allowed the lesser charge of manslaughter to be included in the jury instructions. Jurors can choose manslaughter, first-degree murder, or second-degree murder. The manslaughter option gives jurors a lesser alternative to a murder conviction if they conclude Clancy was criminally responsible but do not believe the killings amounted to murder. The jury can also find Clancy not guilty, and not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

“If you find the defendant guilty of murder you shall decide the degree of murder,” Sullivan said.

The jury began deliberations Thursday.

Clancy, 36, is charged with murder for strangling her three young children.

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The former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital does not deny that she strangled her children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan, with exercise bands at their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023. But her defense attorney has argued that Clancy was overmedicated, suffered from postpartum psychosis and hallucinated a voice telling her to kill her children.

After the killings, she cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt, which left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Lindsay Clancy.Greg Der/The Patriot Ledger via AP

Prosecutors claim she deliberately killed her children. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

During her closing argument Thursday, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague did not dispute that Clancy had been suffering from mental illness or had attempted to kill herself.

“That’s not the issue in this trial,” Sprague told jurors. “The issue is whether, at the time she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan, she knew the difference between right and wrong, and whether she could conform her behavior to the requirements of the law.”

Sprague also pushed back on the defense’s assertions that Clancy had been overmedicated and received inadequate medical care.

“It wasn’t the fault of the providers that she was struggling with this or that she wasn’t getting better,” she said. “They were doing the best they could with the information she provided them, and that wasn’t always accurate information. That wasn’t always the full picture.”

Sprague also outlined why she believed Clancy killed her children.

“She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore. She felt damaged,” Sprague told jurors. “But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery. So she had to remove the protective factor.”

“And I’m not saying she was happy about it,” Sprague continued. “I’m saying that it was what she had to do to end her misery.”

The closely watched five-week trial held in Plymouth County Superior Court has drawn national attention and sparked debate about postpartum mental health and what some have described as the health care system’s failure to help new mothers experiencing psychiatric crises.

Lindsay Marie Clancy and family.Facebook

More than 80 witnesses have testified during the proceedings, including medical experts, friends, law enforcement officers and Clancy’s ex-husband Patrick.

Patrick, who has since remarried, told jurors during the first day of trial that Clancy built a snowman with her children just hours before killing them.

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Patrick testified he was working from home in the basement at the time.

“She seemed happy,” he said, adding that she was having “one of her best days.”

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Prosecutors allege Clancy asked Patrick to pick up medicine and takeout dinner and used the GPS on her cell phone to calculate how long he would be out of the house.

Patrick came home and found Lindsay injured in the yard after she had cut her wrists and jumped from a second-story window. He then discovered his children dead in the basement with exercise bands around their necks.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.