Newz(AP) — Lindsay Clancy was in a deep psychosis when she strangled her three children in their Massachusetts home, her lawyer said Thursday, telling jurors that she had been a loving mother before her mental health spiraled.“Because of the damned medicine and the lousy medical care that she got," attorney Kevin Reddington said during closing arguments of Clancy’s murder trial, referencing the various mental health providers she saw and the different drugs they prescribed in the months before the January 2023 killings.Prosecutors contend that Clancy acted intentionally and sent her husband out on an errand before killing her young children, rejecting her lawyer’s claims that Clancy was in the throes of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes following childbirth.Clancy’s mental state is at the center of the closely watched trial that has drawn attention to maternal mental health after childbirth. The debate has stirred deep divisions among the public over whether she should be held criminally responsible.Clancy did not testify during the trial, which is in its fifth week. Prosecutors called more than 70 witnesses, including Clancy’s then-husband, while the defense called 10 witnesses, including some of Clancy’s friends and relatives.Multiple psychologists and psychiatrists also testified about Clancy's mental health.
Outside the court before closing arguments began, Clancy supporters wearing pink gathered to call attention to women’s mental health issues.“I do hope that it has opened a discussion, and people realize how serious this is,” Reddington said before going into the courthouse.___EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.___Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility when she killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy at the family’s home in coastal Duxbury before attempting suicide.Prosecutors say Clancy understood her actions were wrong.If convicted of murder, Clancy faces a mandatory life prison sentence.
If jurors find her not guilty because she lacked criminal responsibility, she would not face prison time but could be committed to a psychiatric facility.Testifyi… (AP) — Closing arguments are set for Thursday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children in a case that has drawn attention to postpartum mental health.Proceedings are expected to resume around 9 a.m. The prosecution and defense will each have an hour to make their final case before the jury receives instructions and begins deliberating.Clancy did not testify during the trial, which is in its fifth week.
Postpartum psychosis is a rare mental illness that is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.Prosecutors say Clancy planned the killings and understood her actions were wrong.If convicted of murder, Clancy faces a mandatory life prison sentence. Gregory Saathoff a series of questions about Clancy’s account: Did the voice tell her where to kill the children? Saathoff answered no each time.All three children were strangled with exercise bands in the family’s basement before Clancy jumped from a second-floor window while …
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