This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A jury has been seated in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children inside the familys home while suffering from what her attorneys say was severe postpartum psychosis.
The panel of 12 women and six men was finalized Thursday in Plymouth Superior Court, clearing the way for opening statements Monday. The trial is expected to center not on whether Clancy, 32, caused the childrens deaths, but whether she was legally responsible for her actions.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at the prestigious Mass General Hospital, has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder and strangulation in the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.
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Her attorneys do not dispute that she killed the children but plan to argue that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and lacked criminal responsibility. Prosecutors allege the killings were intentional and carefully planned.
“It is usually a hard battle to win,” criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor Donna Rotunno told Fox News Digital of the defense’s insanity bid. “But given the fact that she has such a documented history of treatment and going to doctors and being diagnosed and seeking out more treatment when she wasnt doing well, I think she can lay the groundwork for it.”
Rotunno said Clancys attorneys are likely to emphasize that her condition allegedly continued to deteriorate even as she sought medical help.
“She continued to get worse. She continued to seek treatment,” Rotunno said, pointing to reports that Clancy discussed hearing voices and was prescribed several medications before the childrens deaths.
Clancys prior work as a nurse could cut both ways at trial. Prosecutors may argue that her medical background made her more capable of understanding her treatment and actions, but Rotunno said the defense could use the same fact to demonstrate the severity of her alleged psychosis.
“She was a nurse and still so out of it that she didnt know she shouldnt be taking all this stuff,” Rotunno said. “That, to me, doesnt play into the intention on this. Its the total opposite.”
Authorities said Patrick Clancy left the familys Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023, to pick up takeout food and an item from a pharmacy.
While he was gone, prosecutors allege, Lindsay Clancy used exercise bands to strangle the children before jumping from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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The fall left her paralyzed, and she now uses a wheelchair.
Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead after being taken to a Plymouth hospital. Callan was flown to Boston Childrens Hospital and died several days later. The medical examiner determined that Cora and Dawson died from asphyxia and that Callan died fro
