The prosecution finished its case in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Monday morning, and the defense immediately began arguing that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis when her three children were killed.
That shift is why the case is being watched now. Clancy, who faces three counts of first-degree murder, is accused in the deaths of Cora, Dawson and Callan, all younger than 6, who were discovered strangled at the family home in January 2023.
The defense has not yet been described as laying out a long list of witnesses or documents in the record provided, but its central claim is clear: it wants jurors to see Clancy’s actions through the lens of postpartum psychosis. That matters because the case could end in a not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity, a result that would not free her. Instead, it would send her to a state psychiatric hospital and put her under periodic reviews rather than an immediate return to the community.
Outside Plymouth Superior Court on Thursday, hundreds of people gathered in pink to back Clancy and to frame the case as one about maternal mental health awareness and mothers suffering from postpartum conditions. That display drew its own reaction. Bethany Mandel said she was disturbed by the crowd and pointed out that very few people know the names of the children. She said, “We all know her name. Very few people know the names of her children.”
Mandel added that she did not see any of the supporters wearing buttons with the children’s faces and said the women she heard from almost never mentioned the three child victims. The gap between those two views has become part of the public fight around the trial: one side says it is raising awareness for mothers in crisis, while critics say the children themselves are being pushed to the margins.
That split was already visible just days after the killings, when Patrick wrote on a GoFundMe page that he wanted people to forgive Lindsay. He said, “I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have...The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone - me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients.”
For now, the defense is open and the trial has entered its next phase. What remains unresolved is not just whether jurors accept the insanity defense, but whether the evidence can persuade them that Clancy’s state of mind at the time of the killings meets that legal threshold.
