Before proceedings abruptly concluded on Wednesday, Lindsay Clancy’s defense team was able to call upon a psychologist who testified that he did not believe the defendant was criminally responsible for the murders of her three young children.

Strong Testimony For Defense

Paul Zeizel provided the strongest evidence and testimony yet in Clancy’s defense and said he did not appreciate the “wrongfulness” of killing her children due to mental health issues. His testimony fully supports the defense’s arguments that Clancy should be held criminally liable or legally responsible for murder because of her bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis.

Zeizel began treating Clancy after the murders took place at the hospital she was taken to after throwing herself out of a two-story window. “She was unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she suffered from “a mental disease or a defect.”

The Murders

Lindsay Clancy, 36, pleaded not guilty to the January 2023 killings of her children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8-months. Her plea is based on her then-struggle with postpartum psychosis, which is a rare condition that is linked to stress, sleep deprivation, and hormonal changes after childbirth. It is a condition considered far more serious than the more common disease known as postpartum depression.

However, prosecutors say that the former labor and delivery nurse premeditated the murders and sent her husband on errands that evening before strangling their children in their Duxbury, Massachusetts home with exercise bands.

Understanding Postpartum Psychosis

Zeizel said he and Clancy had dozens of visits and spent over 35 hours with her while she recovered from her injuries and grappled with the situation that her family was gone, including her husband who allegedly ran away to join his mistress on a vacation in Costa Rica three weeks after his children’s funeral. 

He reviewed her medical records and testified that she 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.”

Zeizel believes she was showing signs of psychosis, including paranoia and fear that people around her could hear her negative thoughts and would take away her children. “She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them again,” he said.

He continued to explain the misconception around a psychotic state, which is that you are debilitated and unable to carry out everyday tasks. He said that was not the case, and that she was capable of driving and using the internet to search for things such as a nearby pharmacy or a restaurant that they could order takeout.

“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.

“It does not,” Zeizel responded.

Prosecutors Question Psychologist’s Credibility

Prosecutors cross-examined Zeizel and challenged his credibility. They noted mistakes he made in a report about Clancy and asked whether he could be objective about her diagnosis after working with her as a patient. He acknowledged that there was nothing in the records to show Clancy had been hearing voices telling her to kill herself, but she did tell providers she wanted to die.

Prosecutors say that Clancy’s suicide attempt was not actually an attempt, but a distraction from what she had done. They say she did not take into account, after “lowering herself” from the second-story window of her home and into the snow, that the ground was frozen. She was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham brought up reports from the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy stays, including day-to-day updates that sometimes mentioned her parents visiting or her speaking with other patients, but never anything about her children. 

Defense’s Redirect of Witness

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked Zeizel on the redirect if he was aware of any hospital record stating that Clancy was “laughing, and partying and having a good time” while staying in the hospital. 

“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said, noting that she talks about her children often. “She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.

If Clancy is convicted of murder, she will face life in prison without parole, but if she is found not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, she will be placed in a mental health institution.