A defense psychologist testified at Lindsay Clancy's murder trial that she described hearing a male voice commanding her to kill her three children and then herself, testimony central to the defense's claim that postpartum psychosis, not criminal intent, drove the 2023 killings.
Dr. Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist called by the defense, told the Plymouth Superior Court jury on Tuesday that Clancy recounted the voice during a hospital visit after the deaths of her children Cora, Dawson, and Callan at the family's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Zeizel said Clancy told her then-husband Patrick that she loved him but that the voice left her believing she had no choice.
Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder. Her defense team does not dispute that she strangled all three children, Cora was 5, Dawson was 3, and Callan just 8 months old, on January 24, 2023, while Patrick Clancy was out of the house. The defense argues she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis at the time, according to Breitbart.
The prosecution, which rested its case on Monday, August 17, contends that Clancy was not psychotic when she killed her children and that the killings were planned.
Zeizel's testimony offered the jury the most direct account yet of what Clancy allegedly experienced in the moments surrounding the killings. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington obtained a court order permitting Zeizel to visit Clancy in the hospital after the children's deaths, and it was during that visit that Clancy described the commanding voice.
Fox News Digital reported Zeizel's account of what Clancy told Patrick:
"She had told Patrick that she loved him very much. She was unable to express a lot of emotion, but she expressed love for him, and 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."
When asked whether Clancy might have been faking her symptoms, Zeizel was direct.
"She was not faking. There was no evidence of any malingering. She presented as an honest citizen."
Zeizel also acknowledged that he allowed Clancy to use his personal phone during the hospital visit to call Patrick. He framed the decision simply: "I let her call her husband out of human compassion."
That admission could draw scrutiny. Allowing a murder suspect to make an unmonitored phone call to a key witness raises questions about the integrity of subsequent statements, questions the prosecution may press on cross-examination. Clancy's psychiatric treatment before the killings has already been a contested issue at trial.
Susan Clancy, Lindsay's former mother-in-law, also took the stand Tuesday. She told the jury that the family grew alarmed about Lindsay's mental state during the 2022 holiday season, roughly a month before the killings.
"Lindsay was struggling. We were all very concerned," Susan Clancy testified. She described her former daughter-in-law as "very nurturing, very loving" and called her a "wonderful mother."
Her most pointed testimony was brief: "She was begging for help."
That account aligns with what other family members have described. Lindsay Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, testified earlier in the trial that her daughter's mental health began declining in October 2022, about three months before the killings. Musgrove said Lindsay disclosed in December 2022 that she had thoughts of harming her children. Lindsay's sister testified that Clancy told her she experienced suicidal thoughts every day for a month at the end of that December, AP News reported.
The picture the defense is assembling is consistent: a woman whose family saw the crisis building and who, by their account, sought help that never arrived in time. Whether that narrative amounts to a legal defense, whether psychosis negated criminal responsibility, is the question the jury must answer. The defense's earlier witnesses painted a similar portrait of a family desperate for intervention.
The prosecution spent weeks arguing that Clancy's actions were deliberate. Before resting on Monday, prosecutors presented evidence including crime scene materials and Patrick Clancy's account of discovering his children. Patrick's 911 call, in which he was overheard saying "She killed the kids!", was among the most wrenching moments of the trial, the New York Post reported.
Prosecutors have also pointed to Clancy's online search history as evidence of premeditation. Trial testimony revealed that she searched disturbing phrases related to self-harm before the killings, evidence the state says undercuts the defense's claim that she acted in a psychotic break with no awareness of her actions.
Clancy, now a paraplegic following the incident, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense maintains she was overmedicated and suffering from severe postpartum psychosis. The prosecution maintains she knew what she was doing.
On Monday, August 17, defense attorney Reddington expressed disappointment in a ruling that declined to dismiss the murder charges, a setback that means the case will go to the jury on all three first-degree murder counts.
In a detail that underscores how far the family has fractured, TMZ reported that Patrick Clancy was spotted in Manhattan with his new wife, Rachel Denis, while the murder trial of his ex-wife continues in Plymouth. Patrick and Lindsay Clancy have since divorced.
Patrick is expected to be called as a witness, though it remains unclear whether he has already testified or will appear again. The opening weeks of trial included his account of Lindsay's deterioration in the months before the killings.
The defense resumed its case Wednesday morning. The trial, now in its fourth week, has no publicly announced timeline for closing arguments or a verdict.
Three children, none older than five, are dead. The facts of what happened are not in dispute. The only question left is why, and whether the answer the defense offers is one the law can accept.
