Live Trial Over Three Child Killings Splits Public Opinion in Massachusetts
The trial of Lindsay Clancy has turned a family tragedy into a national fight over mental illness, criminal responsibility and the line between illness and
The trial of Lindsay Clancy has turned a family tragedy into a national fight over mental illness, criminal responsibility and the line between illness and evil. In a Massachusetts courtroom, the mother accused of strangling her three children in January 2023 is drawing fierce support online even as prosecutors press a murder case.
Clancy does not deny killing the children. Her defense says she was too incapacitated by postpartum depression, and later postpartum psychosis, to be held legally accountable. The case is being streamed live and watched by hundreds of thousands, with each new witness feeding an argument that has spilled far beyond the courtroom.
Supporters rally outside court
Outside the courthouse in Plymouth, hundreds of supporters — many in pink shirts carrying signs reading “Believe,” “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay” — gathered on Thursday as the trial continued. Some said Clancy’s story spoke to their own fears about how women are treated when they ask for help.
“Nobody takes us seriously,” one refrain from the crowd captured the mood. Clancy’s supporters say the case has pushed postpartum psychosis into wider public view, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes after childbirth.
Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, says she also has bipolar disorder and had repeatedly sought expert help. After the killings, he has said, Clancy jumped from a second-story window and remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Witnesses describe medication, pleas for help
Testimony this month has focused on Clancy’s medical state before and after the killings. A forensic toxicologist said four psychiatric medications were found in her blood: mirtazapine, lamotrigine, trazodone and quetiapine. He said the quetiapine level was slightly elevated but not at a toxic or suicidal concentration.
At the hospital, a chaplain testified that Clancy told her a voice had commanded her to kill her children and that she was “so glad” they were “safe.” The chaplain said Clancy spoke with a flat affect during their first conversations after she was extubated.
Another witness, Clancy’s former mother-in-law, told the court that she had been “begging for help” before the killings. The defense is trying to show that a medical crisis went untreated. Prosecutors, by contrast, must persuade jurors that Clancy was criminally responsible for what happened inside the family home.
On social media, the case has become a flashpoint. A GoFundMe set up by Clancy’s parents has raised $800,000 and counting, while TikTok and other platforms have filled with claims that she was framed or failed by the medical system. The verdict will decide more than one woman’s fate. It may also shape how the public sees postpartum mental illness for years to come.
