Testimony Tuesday in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial focused on what her husband did when she disclosed dark thoughts in the months before the killings.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pressed the prosecution's psychologist, Kirk Heilbrun, on Patrick Clancy's response to his wife saying she was having thoughts of harming the children. Heilbrun disputed the idea that Patrick told her to "power through it," testifying he instead asked follow-up questions "a mental health professional would also ask," including whether she had a plan. Clancy consistently said she did not, Heilbrun testified, describing them as "just thoughts."
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
A prosecution expert testified Tuesday that he found key parts of Lindsay Clancy's account of hearing a voice unusual, noting she had never reported hearing voices to any mental health provider before the killings.
Dr. Gregory Saathoff told jurors Clancy's report of an auditory hallucination first appeared when he evaluated her, not in her records from psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, emergency staff or McLean Hospital. He also called it "very unusual" that, by her account, the voice stopped as soon as she strangled her youngest child, Callan, after which she went upstairs and tried to take her own life.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
The prosecution's psychologist testified Tuesday that even a person experiencing psychosis with a command hallucination can, in some cases, know right from wrong and control their behavior.
Asked on redirect whether someone hearing a command hallucination could conform their conduct to the law, Kirk Heilbrun said, "In some cases they can." The testimony went to the heart of the case, whether Lindsay Clancy could be held criminally responsible even if she experienced a command hallucination when she killed her three children.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
{{#rendered}}The prosecution's psychologist testified Tuesday that he concluded Lindsay Clancy's underlying condition is bipolar II disorder, part of the state's rebuttal to the defense's claim that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children.
On redirect, Kirk Heilbrun said the symptoms the defense highlighted also appear in general depression, major depression and bipolar disorder. He said he landed on bipolar II, pointing in part to the fact that Clancy has carried a bipolar diagnosis of record during three and a half years at Tewksbury State Hospital.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
The cross-examination of the prosecution's psychologist grew tense Tuesday in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.
As Kevin Reddington asked Kirk Heilbrun to reconfirm his own earlier testimony that Clancy was "hardworking and highly self-disciplined," the two sparred. "That's funny?" Reddington remarked. "No, it's not funny," Heilbrun replied, "it's just that you ask me whether I agree with something that I testified to yesterday."
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
The prosecution's forensic psychologist testified Tuesday that, in his opinion, Lindsay Clancy was criminally responsible when she killed her three children.
Kirk Heilbrun told jurors Clancy "retained an awareness of the illegality of killing others, including killing her children." He said that while her depression and hopelessness influenced her actions the day of the killings, "she retained control over whether, when and how she carried it out." His clinical opinion, he said, was that "she was criminally responsible on January 24th."
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
{{#rendered}}The prosecution's own forensic psychologist testified Tuesday that the stronger explanation for why Lindsay Clancy killed her three children was a serious suicide attempt in which she killed them "out of love."
Kirk Heilbrun said he had weighed two possibilities: acute psychosis with command hallucinations, or a suicide attempt in which Clancy killed the children so they would not be left behind. After his full evaluation, he said, the evidence "much more strongly" supported the second.
Heilbrun explained that Clancy intended to take her own life and, in her thinking, did not want her children to live without her or to suffer in her absence. He described part of that reasoning as realistic, that the children would in fact struggle without their mother, and part of it as distorted, such as a belief that no one else could adequately care for them. In that framework, he testified, the killings were driven by her depression and hopelessness and her desire not to be separated from her children, rather than by a voice commanding her to act.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
While failures by people, medical professionals and systems around Lindsay Clancy deserve scrutiny, nothing should erase a parent’s responsibility for killing a child, according to a veteran prosecutor who said he's concerned that public support for the Massachusetts mom is overshadowing the killing of her three young children.
Clancy is accused of killing her three young children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — and trying to end her own life by dropping from a second-floor window after sending her husband to pick up takeout and something from a pharmacy, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.
But as the case has drawn national attention, Clancy has also attracted supporters both online and in-person at the courthouse, and experts have warned that that support has taken attention away from the victims.
"Nobody who murders children is a victim no matter what they’re suffering through," said Jonathan Hatami, a veteran child abuse prosecutor. "You're never a victim if you murder people because victims don't do something. Something happens to them."
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