Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — at the family's Duxbury, Massachusetts home in January 2023, then tried to kill herself and was left paralyzed. She doesn't dispute that she did it. Her defense argues postpartum psychosis makes her not criminally responsible. Closing arguments wrapped August 27, and the jury began deliberating the next day. Twice now — on day four and again on day five — the jury has told Judge William Sullivan it can't reach a unanimous decision. On the second deadlock, Sullivan gave jurors a Tuey-Rodriguez charge, a standard instruction pushing them to keep working. A retired judge quoted in coverage said that charge is normally given only once before a mistrial is considered. The jury hasn't reached a verdict. Jurors are back at 9 a.m. Thursday.

1. The Prosecution — She Planned This (ADA Jennifer Sprague, Dr. Gregory Saathoff)

Prosecutors say Clancy knew exactly what she was doing and set up the moment on purpose.

She cleared the house first. ADA Jennifer Sprague told the jury Clancy "planned these murders, gave herself the time and privacy to commit these murders," pointing to how Clancy sent her husband out to pick up food and medication right before the killings. Sprague argued Clancy then "strangled each child in the place where they should have felt the safest — at home with their mom."

The prosecution's own psychiatrist calls her responsible. Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Virginia and senior psychiatrist for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, testified he believes Clancy is criminally responsible and called her account of a hallucinated voice telling her to act "very unusual."

No doctor ever caught the condition her defense blames. Doctors diagnosed Clancy with bipolar disorder only after the killings; none had diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis before or immediately after. Prosecutors use that gap to challenge the defense's framing.

Sprague answered the defense's own prop in closing. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington laid four quarters on the table during his closing to walk through four points he said the prosecution got wrong. Sprague picked the quarters back up during her closing.

2. The Defense — She Wasn't in Control (Kevin Reddington, Dr. Phillip Resnick)

The defense says psychosis, not intent, drove Clancy's hands that day.

She was "a darn good mother" who got "lousy medical care." That's how Reddington described her in closing, opening with two photos side by side: the happy Clancy family, and Clancy badly injured in a hospital bed after her suicide attempt.

Her own expert says she was "clearly psychotic." Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and filicide specialist who testified as the defense's final witness, said Clancy was "clearly psychotic" on the day of the killings and was not in control of her actions. Reddington argues that under Massachusetts law, that means she had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of what she did.

The defense called ten witnesses to build the psychosis case. The team spent much of the trial establishing Clancy's mental state in the months before the killings.

A repeat deadlock reads as a jury taking the question seriously. Reddington told reporters after the second deadlock: "The fact that they have not said that they're done is very, very heartening."

3. Maternal Mental Health Advocates — The System Failed Her Either Way (Wendy Davis, Adrienne Griffen)

Advocates say the verdict won't fix what actually let this happen: doctors who don't catch postpartum psychosis in time.

Psychosis can hide behind a normal-looking day. Wendy Davis, executive director of Postpartum Support International, says someone in postpartum psychosis "could be hearing voices and doing their laundry, talking to a neighbor, ordering food" — which is exactly why it gets missed.

There are only five specialized units in the whole country. Davis points to just five inpatient perinatal mental health units nationwide as evidence the system isn't built to catch cases like Clancy's.

Care drops off right when new mothers need it most. Adrienne Griffen, executive director of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, argues mothers get frequent medical attention during pregnancy, but "there really is not this continuity of care for the mother" once attention shifts to the baby after birth.

Where This Lands

Prosecutors say Clancy planned the killings and that no doctor ever diagnosed her with the condition her defense blames. The defense says she was "clearly psychotic" and not in control of her actions. Maternal mental health advocates say both arguments miss the larger point: the system meant to catch postpartum psychosis before it turns deadly barely exists. The jury has now spent roughly 30 hours over five days without agreeing on any of it. It's back in the room Thursday morning.

Sources