The jury in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of killing her three children, adjourned for the weekend on Friday without reaching a verdict. Jurors have deliberated for over 10 hours since Thursday afternoon.
On Friday, the nine-woman, three-man jury asked to review two pieces of evidence: the knife Clancy used in her suicide attempt and some of her prescription medication bottles. They are scheduled to resume deliberations on Monday morning.
The central issue before the jury is whether Clancy, 36, should be held criminally liable. Her defense argues she was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis and hallucinated a voice instructing her to kill her children and herself. The prosecution contends the mother meticulously planned the events of Jan. 24, 2023, sending her husband on errands before strangling their children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with exercise bands.
Following the deaths of her children, Clancy reportedly cut her wrists and neck, ingested medication, and jumped from a second-story window, resulting in paralysis. Prosecutors suggested her motive was to avoid caring for the children and to prevent them from being left behind after her planned suicide.
Evidence presented during the trial indicated that in the four months leading up to the slayings, Clancy struggled with severe insomnia, anxiety, depression, and thoughts of harming herself and her children. She sought psychiatric help, entered a perinatal clinic, and was voluntarily admitted to a mental health facility for five days. She was prescribed 13 psychiatric medications, which she believed exacerbated her condition.
Clancy has been held at Tewksbury Hospital since her case began. If convicted, she faces a mandatory life sentence. Should the jury find her not criminally responsible due to her defense, she would be committed indefinitely to a mental health facility.