Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial: Psychologist Says She Could Not Appreciate 'Wrongfulness' of Killing Her 3 Children

A psychologist testifying for the defence in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial said on Wednesday that her mental health issues left her unable to appreciate the "wrongfulness" of killing her three children.

Paul Zeizel's testimony provided the strongest evidence yet supporting the defence's contention that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder. The defence maintains that she has bipolar disorder and was experiencing postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness, when she killed her three children before attempting to kill herself.

Zeizel began treating Clancy at a hospital after the children's deaths.

“She was unable to conform her behaviour to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”

Clancy has pleaded not guilty to murder charges

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of her children, Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who were aged between eight months and five years.

Postpartum psychosis is associated with the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Researchers estimate that it affects one to two in every 1,000 women after delivery and is more serious and less common than postpartum depression.

Prosecutors contend that Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, planned the January 2023 killings. They say she arranged for her husband to leave the house by sending him to collect medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

Psychologist details Clancy's mental health struggles

Zeizel said he spent more than 35 hours with Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records.

According to him, Clancy visited a perinatal clinic in December 2022 because she felt her “brain was damaged,” “she should kill herself” and that she “is never going to get any better.”

He said she also displayed signs of psychosis and paranoia, including fears that others could hear her thoughts and that her children would be taken away.

“She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them again,” he said.

Defence questions significance of everyday activities

Zeizel testified that being in a psychotic state did not necessarily prevent Clancy from carrying out “everyday tasks of living” such as driving or searching the internet.

On the day of the killings, she took her daughter to the doctor, played with the children in the snow and searched online for a pharmacy and a restaurant.

“So the fact she is not talking about the unicorns in the corner, she is not slurring her words and she is not unable to walk, to your opinion to a degree of medical certainty, does that mean she is not in a psychotic state?” Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington asked.

Zeizel responded: “It does not.”

Prosecutors question psychologist's objectivity

During cross-examination, prosecutors highlighted mistakes in Zeizel's report about Clancy and questioned whether he could objectively assess her diagnosis because he had treated her as a patient and worked with the defence, including appearing alongside Reddington at a news conference.

Zeizel acknowledged that Clancy's medical records contained no report of her hearing voices telling her to kill herself. The records instead showed that she told caregivers that “she wanted to die.”

Prosecutors have also questioned the seriousness of Clancy's suicide attempt. After strangling her children, she jumped from a second-storey window and remains paralysed from the waist down.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham cited daily reports from Tewksbury Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy is staying. The reports covered occasions including the anniversary of the killings and what would have been her children's birthdays. They referred to visits from her parents and conversations with other patients but did not mention anything she did to remember her children.

Reddington asked Zeizel whether the hospital records showed Clancy “laughing, and partying and having a good time” during her stay.

“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said.

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Psychologist says Clancy talks about children often

Zeizel also disputed prosecutors' contention that Clancy never mentions her children, saying she frequently talks about them.

“She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life imprisonment without parole. If she is found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.