Prosecutors allege that on 24 January 2023, Clancy intentionally strangled all of her children – Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months – with fitness bands in their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home before jumping from a second-floor window. Clancy, now 36, was paralysed by the fall and attended the trial in a wheelchair.
Clancy’s attorneys, while defending her, have never rejected her role in the killings.
Instead, they have put forth a defence of insanity, arguing that Clancy had hallucinations and delusions after giving birth to her youngest child. They pointed to treatment for mental health problems and that she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital just days before the deaths.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have argued Clancy made a calculated decision to intentionally kill her children and should be held legally responsible. They allege that at the time, Clancy sent her husband, Patrick Clancy, out on errands so that he would not be home.
Clancy’s family, including her former mother-in-law and husband, have testified about her mental state leading up to the deaths.
The five-week trial has sparked interest on social media as thousands watched the court proceedings. Hundreds of women have showed up outside the courthouse to support Clancy, wearing pink shirts with phrases like “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay”.
