BREAKING: INSIDE THE CONTENTIOUS HEARING ON LINDSAY CLANCY’S FATE
Lindsay Clancy does not deny that she killed her three children.
But over the course of her closely followed murder trial, the defense has claimed Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she strangled them.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility. Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, has called witnesses to testify about his client’s mental state at the time of the killings.
One of the witnesses called was Dr. Paul Zeizel, a forensic psychologist who met with Clancy in the aftermath of the killings. Zeizel testified that Clancy reported hearing a voice in her head telling her to kill her children and herself.
“She had said that she heard a male voice ordering her, telling her that she didn’t have any choice, but she had to kill her children and then kill herself,” Zeizel testified.
Another witness, hospital chaplain Sheila Cavanaugh, also testified that Clancy told her she’d heard a voice threatening the safety of her and her children.
“I am so glad my children are safe,” Clancy told Cavanaugh after the killings, according to the chaplain’s testimony.
Another plank of Clancy’s defense is her contention that she was overmedicated, and many of Reddington’s questions asked during the trial have been about her medications and their side effects.
But even if Clancy’s defense is successful, a potential not guilty verdict would not mean she goes free, because of the nature of her plea.
Instead, she would likely face an indefinite stay in a secure state mental health facility.
Daniel S. Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston, tells PEOPLE that the Massachusetts law surrounding a lack of criminal responsibility defense is complex.
“If a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the court enters an observation order,” Medwed says. “The person is then observed for up to 40 days.”
At the end of the initial observation period, Medwed says, either the district attorney or whoever is in charge of the mental health facility can petition the court for an initial commitment order of up to six months.
When the six months are up, there would be a review and the potential for another commitment order for another year, and the process could continue, according to Medwed.
“Then there might be another review and an order for a year, and so on,” he says. “It could go on indefinitely.”
Regarding the lack of criminal responsibility defense itself, while the defense has to introduce evidence regarding the defendant’s mental state, the burden of proof is still on the prosecution, says Medwed.
“It’s on the prosecution to essentially refute [the defense’s evidence] and show that the defendant was criminally responsible,” Medwed says.
Clancy is charged with the murders of her daughter Cora, 5, son Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old son Callan.
The children were found unresponsive by their father, Patrick, who first discovered his then-wife in the backyard after she jumped out of a second-story window.
