Lindsay Clancy Trial Goes To Jury

The trial for Lindsay Clancy, the woman who is charged with murder after strangling her three young children, has now gone to the jury.

Attorneys from both sides presented their closing arguments on Thursday.

What the parties said: Clancy’s lawyer described her as a “darn good mother” and contended that she received “lousy medical care” for mental illness in his closing remarks, arguing that she should not be prosecuted for the murders because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis.

Prosecutors countered that Clancy had access to excellent medical care and that killing her children “was a choice.”

Before the jury began deliberating, the judge gave them instructions.

Clancy has entered a not guilty plea to three murder charges; if found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Judge William F. Sullivan advised the jury not to be influenced by the “unpleasant” nature of the photos of the children’s autopsies.

“The images depicted are not pleasant,” Judge Sullivan said.

“Your verdict must not in any way be influenced by the fact that these images are unpleasant or graphic,” the judge said.

“The defendant is entitled to a verdict based solely on the evidence and not one based on pity or sympathy for the decedents, which might be occasioned by the images depicted,” the judge added.

Judge Sullivan told the jury they can consider the photos only as to a clinical medical status or nature of their injuries.

The prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, Sullivan said.

The jury’s role is to determine the facts of the case, while the judge decides the law, he said.

The opening statements and closing arguments are not evidence, he said.

Jurors can consider direct and circumstantial evidence and are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses.

As she concluded her closing remarks, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague emphasized Lindsay Clancy’s preparation and the suffering that each of her children went through.

“Taking Dawson first and moving him to a separate room, having Cora stay with Callan … that’s rational. That makes sense. That’s ordered thinking,” Sprague said before describing in detail how Clancy used the exercise band to strangle her 3-year-old son.

“How many seconds is it okay for them to have been in pain and panic and confusion? It wasn’t okay for one second for any of those children to feel that, and they all felt it.”

A female juror bowed her head as Sprague spoke; she later began wiping her eyes as the commonwealth’s attorney described the children’s final moments.

“Just think of that … being strangled and the pain and the confusion that they’re going through … and it’s being done by their mom.”

“Their mom is the one that’s hurting them. Their mom is the one that’s killing them. That’s extreme atrocity and cruelty.”

Sprague reiterated the commonwealth’s doubts over Clancy’s claim that a male voice instructed her to kill her children and herself during a spell of psychosis.

After requesting a lawyer in the hospital after the incident, Clancy reported hearing this voice during the incident.

“When she woke in the hospital, and she knew she was alive, and the kids weren’t, she knew what she did was wrong. She said she felt horrified. And then, while still with a tube in her throat, she’s asking, ‘Do I have a lawyer?’” Sprague told the jury during the commonwealth’s closing argument.

“And then, then we get the justification, the excuse of the voice, and there are a few reasons why the voice doesn’t make sense.”

Sprague invoked the well-known case of Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in Texas in 2001 and reportedly heard a voice telling her to do so. It was mentioned by a defense expert’s testimony during Clancy’s trial.

“You heard him talk about Andrea Yates, about how she heard voices to kill her children for months, and what’d she do? She committed herself five times. She tried to kill herself twice to avoid harming her children.”

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington objected.

The judge told Sprague to move on.

“Lindsey Clancy hears this voice one time and does it. Doesn’t try to lock herself in the bathroom. Call Patrick. Call 911. Doesn’t try to leave. … She doesn’t try any tactics to avoid the voice. She just obeys,” Sprague said.

Clancy’s claim to have heard the voice only that one time is a red flag, Sprague said. “She never heard it before, and she hasn’t heard it since.”

Clancy also had to choose the location and method of the killings because the voice didn’t specify, Sprague said.

“[The voice] says kill the kids so you can kill yourself. So, she had to choose where: the basement. She had to choose how: strangulation. She had to choose with what: exercise band. Choose again: exercise band. Choose again: exercise band. She had to choose how to kill herself.”

The prosecutor cast doubt on the idea that Clancy was in psychosis with no free will during the incident yet could make all the choices required by the killings.

The jury has the case, and a verdict may come down at any point.