Jury selection begins for Massachusetts mother who says ‘postpartum psychosis’ caused her to kill her children

DUXBURY, Mass. — Trial began Monday for a Massachusetts woman accused of strangling her three children to death, and then attempting to end her own life by jumping from a second-story window.

Lindsay Clancy, 35, doesn’t dispute the fact that she killed her children, but she argues she did so in an episode of postpartum psychosis and therefore should not be held criminally liable for their deaths.

Clancy is charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. If convicted, she faces the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The day of the homicides

The alleged murders happened on the evening of Jan. 24, 2023. According to court documents, Lindsay Clancy had spent the day with her children while her husband, Patrick Clancy, worked from his home office in the basement.

Shortly before 5 p.m., Lindsay texted Patrick to ask if he would be OK with grabbing takeout for dinner and picking something up from the pharmacy. Police reports indicate that at approximately 5:10 p.m., Lindsay made a call to Three V, a restaurant in their hometown of Plymouth, and that Patrick left to pick it up sometime before 5:30 p.m.

During the time Patrick was gone, police say Jessica killed their three children by strangling them with exercise bands.

When Patrick returned home at approximately 6:09 p.m., he told police noticed the house was unusually quiet. He said he searched the home for his family and found his bedroom door locked. When he eventually got the door open, Patrick said he saw blood and the second-story window open.

He then ran around to the backyard of the home, where he said he found Lindsay lying below the bedroom window with injuries to her neck and wrists. It was later revealed that Lindsey had jumped from the window in a suicide attempt, causing injuries that left her paralyzed.

At this point, Patrick called 911.

‘She killed the kids!’

In a panic, Patrick began questioning Clancy about what had happened and where their children were, CNN reports. In the recorded 911 call, Lindsay is heard telling her husband that the children are in the basement.

Police and paramedics arrived at the Clancy home at 6:11 p.m., according the police reports. While they are attending to his wife, Patrick went into the house to look for the children.

Seconds later, Patrick “could be heard screaming in agony and shock as he found his children,” said prosecutor Jennifer Sprague, in a statement obtained by CNN.

Emergency responders said they also heard Patrick yell, “She killed the kids!”

CNN reports that all three children were found unconscious with obvious signs of being strangled. The children were taken to hospitals in the area, where they were all later pronounced dead.

Kevin Reddington, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, is arguing that while his client admits to killing her children, she shouldn’t be charged with murder due to the postpartum psychosis she was experiencing at the time.

“Our society fails miserably in treating women with postpartum depression or even postpartum psychosis,” Reddington said in a statement obtained by CNN during Clancy’s arraignment in 2023. “This is a situation that clearly was a product of mental illness.”

The postpartum psychosis argument

Lindsay and her attorney say that prior to the killings, she was suffering from severe anxiety and depression, with episodes of mania and hallucinations. She began seeking treatment in September 2022 and voluntarily submitted herself to a psychiatric hospital less than a month before the killings took place.

Reddington argues that it is the doctors who were changing Lindsay’s psychiatric medications who are to blame for her condition worsening.

Both Lindsay and Patrick Clancy have filed separate lawsuits against the health care providers they say were responsible for Lindsay’s care.

“I wasn’t married to a monster,” Patrick said in a 2024 interview with The New Yorker. “I was married to someone who got sick.”

If jurors don’t find Lindsay criminally responsible for killing her children, due to her mental condition, the courts will likely begin the legal process to have her admitted to a state psychiatric hospital, CNN reports.

The trial begins

Lindsay Clancy’s trial began Monday and is expected to last until at least July 31. EastIdahoNews.com will be livestreaming the proceedings on EastIdahoNews.com and the East Idaho News YouTube channel every weekday beginning at 7 a.m. MDT.

Each night, Courtroom Insider’s Nate Eaton will break down what happened in court and interview experts about their thoughts on the trial. “Courtroom Insider with Nate Eaton” airs live on YouTube weeknights beginning at 7 p.m. MDT.

We also have a reporter present in the Massachusetts courtroom where the trial is taking place. Courtroom Insider’s Grace Wong will provide live updates of each day’s proceedings here at EastIdahoNews.com.

RELATED | LIVE UPDATES: Lindsay Clancy Trial – Jury Selection, Day 1

Although Clancy has been accused of a crime, that does not necessarily mean she committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.