As Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial nears its close, a civil rights attorney who followed the case says weeks of testimony have changed her mind about whether Clancy was criminally responsible for killing her three children — and she believes the evidence may have swayed jurors, too. Clancy is accused of killing her three young children at the family’s Massachusetts home in January 2023 before attempting to take her own life. Her defense has argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and experiencing command hallucinations at the time, leaving her unable to understand the wrongfulness of her actions.
Prosecutors have argued that while Clancy was suffering from serious mental-health problems, she remained criminally responsible for the killings. Shari Karney, a civil rights attorney and victims’ advocate, told Newsweek she initially believed Clancy was criminally responsible. But after listening to weeks of testimony, including evidence from the prosecution's own witnesses about Clancy's deteriorating mental health and attempts to obtain treatment, Karney said she now supports the defense's argument that Clancy was experiencing psychosis and command hallucinations.
Gregory Saathoff, taking the stand. During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington read from prosecutor Shanan Buckingham's opening statement, in which prosecutors characterized Clancy as manipulating her medical providers, changing medications and seeking “a quick and easy fix” before deliberately deciding she no longer wanted to continue trying. Reddington then asked Saathoff whether the evidence supported that characterization.
Saathoff ultimately agreed that the prosecution's description “really minimizes” what Clancy was experiencing. The admission was significant because the prosecution's own expert was acknowledging that the opening statement did not fully capture the severity of the mental-health crisis described during the trial. Karney said she was initially struck by what appeared to be a sequence of deliberate actions surrounding the killings, such as Clancy carrying out the killings while her husband was out doing errands.
But the testimony from psychiatric and mental-health professionals changed her assessment. Karney said she ultimately accepted the defense's contention that Clancy experienced psychosis, including command hallucinations, and lost contact with reality. Those women and their testimony changed my mind.
And I began to support Lindsay Clancy's defense.” “I now believe the defense that she experienced psychosis, command hallucinations, loss of reality,” she said. The distinction is at the heart of the trial. Clancy's defense does not dispute that she killed her three children.
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