Expert witnesses challenge claim that Lindsay Clancy experienced psychosis

One more day of testimony expected as closing arguments set for Thursday and jury likely begins deliberations Friday

One more day of rebuttal testimony was expected this week in the trial against Lindsay Clancy, followed by closing statements likely on Thursday.

The jury, which will likely begin deliberations on Friday, will decide whether the Massachusetts mother was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.

On Tuesday, prosecutors put two expert witnesses on the stand who challenged the arguments made by Clancy’s defense team – specifically, that Clancy committed the acts while suffering from postpartum psychosis – a mental illness that can cause hallucinations, mood swings, delusions and more, and was hearing a voice compelling her to do it. Her attorney Kevin Reddington has also claimed Clancy had bipolar disorder and was overmedicated.

Tuesday’s testimonies capped off more than a month of testimony in a trial that has largely depended on opposing views from experts about Clancy’s mental health and her ability to understand the gravity of what she was doing. It’s not disputed that she strangled the children – Callan, 8 months, Dawson, three years old, and Cora, five years old, before she allegedly jumped from a second-floor window, which left her paralyzed from the waist down. But the outcome of the trial hinges on questions surrounding Clancy’s mental state at the time of the children’s deaths. The burden of proof is on the prosecution to show Clancy was not suffering from “a mental disease or defect” and that she had enough capacity to understand “the wrongfulness or criminality of her conduct”.

Kirk Heilbrun, a forensic psychologist hired by prosecutors, initially took the stand on Friday and continued his testimony on Tuesday morning. He told the court he “did his best to have an open mind”, when he evaluated Clancy in April and that he believed she was “criminally responsible” for the deaths.

“She retained an awareness of the illegality of killing others, including her children,” he said. “Her moral awareness of this killing was influenced by her strong desire to die and, if she was dead, not to leave her children behind.”

Over nearly three days of testimony, the prosecution also focused on the timeline of events during the killings, asking Heilbrun to identify whether each step Clancy took was a decision – including her action to take the children down to the basement – in an attempt to convince the jury that these were planned murders. For each, he answered that they did.

Under cross-examination, Heilbrun’s told the court he had been paid roughly $54,000 for the 180 hours he has worked on the case on behalf of the state, and that he will likely be paid more as the trial goes on. He also told Reddington that he didn’t have experience with postpartum mental health conditions.

A recess was called at one point, after several heated exchanges between Heilbrun and Reddington during which Clancy’s attorney accused the psychologist of not reading her medical reports.

Heilbrun’s testimony on Monday prompted a request for a mistrial from Reddington after the psychologist mentioned Clancy’s Catholic faith. The request was denied, but Judge William Sullivan admonished Heilbrun for the comment and instructed the jury to disregard the reference to “the religion that the defendant was raised with”, calling it “an absolutely inappropriate area of testimony”.

After Heilbrun left the stand on Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors called forensic psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff, who is affiliated with the FBI and University of Virginia. Unlike Heilbrun, he claimed he was not paid for his testimony and had treated several women who have killed their children.

Saathoff told the court that it was unusual that Clancy hadn’t reported hearing voices before the killings and that the voices ceased afterwards. He also said he found several inconsistencies in Clancy’s account of what happened.

It is well documented that Clancy needed treatment for a mental health condition, and admitted herself to McLean, a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, a few weeks before the murders. Testimony from expert witnesses who were called by the defense had very different conclusions about her mental state.

Dr Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and expert in filicide, testified on Friday that Clancy was “clearly psychotic” on the day she killed her children and was not in control of her actions.

“It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings,” he said.

That echoed another defense witness, Paul Zeizel, the psychologist who concluded Clancy “had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act”.

Before the court adjourned for the day on Tuesday, Judge Sullivan told the jury that the presentation of evidence would conclude on Wednesday and that closing arguments would likely follow on Thursday. Deliberations are expected to begin on Friday. He encouraged jurors not to form their own conclusions until the very end.

“You’ve heard a lot of evidence, but you haven’t heard all of it, right? And like I said before, you haven’t heard the closing arguments of the attorneys,” Sullivan said. “You haven’t heard the law that you’re going to have to apply to this. So you still have to keep an open mind.”

In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org . In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org