Defense rests in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial

By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — The defense rested Friday in the triple-murder trial of Lindsay Clancy after calling 10 witnesses who testified about her mental health conditions and her efforts to seek treatment in the months before she fatally strangled her three children.

Clancy did not take the stand.

Prosecutors are now presenting a rebuttal case before the parties deliver their closing arguments.

Clancy, 36, does not deny she fatally strangled her children – Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan – in the basement of their Massachusetts home in January 2023. But her attorney argues she should not be held criminally responsible for their deaths because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare mental condition. After the killings, Clancy attempted suicide, leaving her partially paralyzed.

While presenting his case over the last week, Clancy’s defense attorney endeavored to portray his client as a caring mother with extreme mental illness who was failed by her medical providers.

The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, however, argues the former labor and delivery nurse murdered her children “deliberately and meticulously” and was not in a state of psychosis when she did so. Though prosecutors acknowledge Clancy had mental health issues, they contend she manipulated her providers and constantly changed treatment plans as she sought a “quick and easy fix.”

Clancy, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, could face life in prison if convicted. If jurors find she cannot be held criminally responsible, the court will likely begin the process of having her committed to a psychiatric hospital.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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