Lindsay Clancy jury deliberations resume after testimony on psychosis, planning and a mother's collapse

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial ended a third day of deliberations Monday without a verdict, after hearing five weeks of testimony that offered sharply different portraits of a mother's mental state.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, has admitted strangling Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan inside their Duxbury home in January 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Her lawyers say she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis and could not appreciate that her actions were wrong. Prosecutors argue she planned the killings and should be held legally responsible.

More than 80 witnesses testified over 21 days — 74 called by the prosecution and 10 by the defense. Closing arguments wrapped up Aug. 27, and the case went to the jury. The panel of nine women and three men has deliberated for more than 16 hours so far. Six alternates are also on duty but cannot participate in deliberations. Judge William Sullivan has scheduled the fourth day of deliberations to begin Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.

A husband's account

Patrick Clancy, the children's father, was the first witness. Over two days, he described his then-wife's sharp decline after the birth of their third child and after she began taking a new antipsychotic medication. He called it a “big spiral.” She told him she was having thoughts of the children being hurt, though she never said she intended to harm them.

On the morning of the killings, Patrick Clancy said Lindsay was in a good mood and playing with the children. “She was having one of her best days,” he testified. His last image of Dawson was the 3-year-old sitting on the couch eating chicken nuggets and green beans. He had stepped out to pick up takeout and medication for Cora. He said no one had ever told him that his wife should not be left alone with the children. “I didn't know what psychosis was until after this happened.”

He also testified about the medications Lindsay had been prescribed. “The idea was that it would help with sleep, but she didn't get better. She got worse.”

First responders describe the scene

Ten police officers, firefighters and paramedics followed Patrick Clancy to the stand. Jurors heard a 911 call in which Patrick, after finding his wife injured and bleeding in the yard, told the dispatcher he was going inside to check on the children; moments later, he cried out after discovering them in the basement.

Officers Stephen Hall and Brian Josephine testified that they initially focused on Lindsay Clancy, who was drifting in and out of consciousness in the snow after jumping from a second-floor window. Then Patrick screamed that all three children were dead. “I can't wake them up — I can't get them up!” he told officers. Josephine said 8-month-old Callan had only a faint pulse. Duxbury fire supervisor PJ Hussey arrived as Patrick was removing an exercise band from one of the children's necks and said the scene “turned very chaotic very quickly.” Firefighter-paramedic Jennifer Stratton began chest compressions on Callan, but he never regained a pulse.

The nanny's view

Elaine Rossi, who worked as the family's nanny from September to December 2022, described Lindsay Clancy as “a wonderful mom who loved her kids.” She was attentive and concerned about Callan's eating and sleeping. But Rossi also saw prescription bottles in the house, and Lindsay told her she had postpartum depression, could not sleep and had been sleeping in the basement. Rossi said she never worried that Lindsay was a danger to the children or to herself.

What a care team knew

Clancy's treatment before the killings also took center stage. Psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta and psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Tufts both treated Clancy and were later named as defendants in malpractice lawsuits filed by Lindsay and Patrick Clancy. According to those lawsuits, Clancy was prescribed nine psychiatric medications in the months before the killings, eight of them within a three-week span.

Jollotta testified that Clancy reported persistent, intrusive thoughts of suicide in December 2022 but had no plan to harm herself or her children and showed no signs of psychosis or mania. Tufts, who saw Clancy through 25-minute video appointments, testified that she told Clancy there was hope and that other treatments and programs were available. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pressed Tufts hard, at one point describing her as a box-checking “robot.”

The psychiatric battle

The central dispute at trial was whether Clancy's condition amounted to psychosis. Defense expert Dr. Donald Condie testified that Clancy reported dissociation, brain fog and auditory hallucinations in December 2022, symptoms he said suggested her providers may have missed signs of postpartum psychosis. Dr. Paul Zeizel said Clancy told evaluators that “people could actually hear her thoughts” and that she had no appreciation of the wrongfulness of her actions.

Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist with long experience in filicide cases, testified for the defense. He had also testified in the Andrea Yates case. Resnick said Clancy was “clearly psychotic” on the day of the killings. “It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings,” he said.

The prosecution's psychiatric expert, Dr. Avram Mack, disagreed. Mack examined Clancy in April and testified that she had a major depressive episode but was not psychotic. He said she “retained the capacity” required for criminal responsibility. A spokesperson for Nemours Children's Health later told CT Insider that Mack no longer works for the organization.

Family members testify

Lindsay Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, told jurors that the combination of medications her daughter was taking “was pretty much just destroying her mind, and it wasn't her.” Jurors saw texts in which Clancy begged her mother to come stay with her: “Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit? I'm really sick. Something is wrong.” In the month before the killings, Musgrove said, her daughter told her she had thoughts of harming the children.

Clancy's sister, Allison Ozga, testified that in late December Clancy said she had been having suicidal thoughts every day for a month. Patrick Clancy's mother, Susan Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, helped connect Lindsay with South Shore Health's Perinatal Behavioral Health Program. She testified that Lindsay was anxious, sad, losing her appetite and struggling with insomnia, and that she had previously been a nurturing, loving mother.

A chaplain's account

Sheila Cavanaugh, a chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, visited Clancy after the killings and said she was unconscious at first and later had a flat affect. Cavanaugh said Clancy told her, “I'm so glad my children are safe.” Cavanaugh recalled answering, “Lindsay, your children are safe. They're safe in heaven with God.”

Cavanaugh also said Clancy alluded to hearing a voice that warned her that if she did not follow a command, neither she nor her children would be safe. Prosecutors questioned why Cavanaugh had not documented that detail in Clancy's hospital records. “I'm not there to evaluate the patient; I'm there to bear witness to their suffering,” Cavanaugh said.

What the jury must decide

For each child, the jury can return a verdict of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, or not guilty. In Massachusetts, a conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. A finding of lack of criminal responsibility would mean Clancy's mental disease or defect prevented her from understanding the wrongfulness of her acts.

The case has drawn national attention to postpartum psychosis and the barriers women can face in getting timely mental health care, even when they are already in treatment. It has also highlighted how family members and clinicians can struggle to recognize when a new mother's distress is escalating into a psychiatric emergency. Defense attorney Reddington acknowledged the difficulty of the jury's task last Friday. “There are 290-something exhibits, five weeks of testimony,” he said. “It's obviously a lot of work. They have been very attentive. I don't know how long it will take them.”

Jurors deliberated for a third day Monday and were again sent home without a decision. Deliberations will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET. Sullivan has reminded them each day not to talk about the case or do outside research.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental or emotional health, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Lifeline, or go to 988lifeline.org.