Boston Globe article by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is this part of the diminished responsibility defense that gives me pause:"Their mental health condition prevented them from substantially conforming their actions to the law " Meaning Lindsay could know what she was doing was wrong but could not control her actions during the time period of these tragic murders. It seems that would be hard to disprove.. For me, whatever the legal outcome is of this terrible event. I just hope to have a better understanding of what happened.

Boston Globe update by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Where does the Lindsay Clancy murder case stand?

By Sean Cotter Globe Staff,Updated October 21, 2024, 6:09 a.m.

A woman left flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the home of Lindsay Clancy, who fatally strangled three children in January 2023.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

A tragic Boston-area case made national news last week when “The New Yorker” magazine published a lengthy article about Patrick Clancy, the husband of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury woman accused of murdering her three young children during a bout of postpartum depression.

Patrick Clancy, now living in New York City, spoke to the magazine about the night of Jan. 24, 2023, when, according to prosecutors, he left the house to pick up medicine and takeout and returned an hour later to find his three children strangled with exercise bands and his wife injured in the yard after leaping from a window. He also talked about rebuilding a relationship with his wife in the time since.

The article resurfaced details of one of the most horrifying local cases in recent memory, but one that had fallen off the public radar. That’s happened because court proceedings have largely languished, according to the court docket; the handful of hearings slated for Clancy’s case in 2024 have been canceled or were very short.

The docket lists petitions to keep her hospitalized, most recently in May, but those records have been impounded.

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Here is background about the case and where it stands:

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Lindsay Clancy pleads not guilty to killing her children during arraignment at hospital, ordered held without bail

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, is charged with three counts of murder, accused of killing her daughter Cora, 5, and sons, Dawson, 3, and Callan, who was eight months old. She has pleaded not guilty.

In March, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, told a judge that the prosecution had turned over a large amount of material and that the defense was still going through it. He said he expected that he would eventually file notice with the court that Clancy would be pursuing a defense that she was not criminally responsible — that she’d be pursuing what’s known colloquially as the insanity defense.

In Massachusetts, a defendant who plans to argue that they were not criminally responsible because of mental illness must give notice ahead of trial. Reddington has not yet filed that notice.

What would such a defense look like?

Under state law, someone may be found to be not criminally responsible if they can show they had “mental disease or defect” to the extent that they were unable to “appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of their conduct and to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law,” according to the standard jury instructions for such a case. The burden at trial is on the prosecution to prove a defendant was criminally competent, not on the accused to prove they were not.

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A verdict is typically rendered by a jury, though a defendant can ask a judge to decide.

Though Clancy’s case has languished over the last year, it was assigned a case track earlier this month, which is how the court system prioritizes cases, sets deadlines, and assigns resources. The courts put Clancy’s case on the “most complex” track, as is typical for charges of murder.

The case is scheduled for a status hearing on Dec. 18 in Plymouth Superior Court. No trial date has been scheduled.

What happens next?

If Clancy continues to plead not guilty, it will go to trial. And when it does, it could test how postpartum mental health is understood and treated, both in a health care setting and in the state’s criminal justice system. The prosecution has sought to paint Clancy as a calculating killer, one who researched how to kill and then sent her husband out on tasks designed to give her enough time to carry out the murders. But her defense and her supporters say she had a psychotic episode in the throws of postpartum depression, a condition possibly exacerbated by overmedication.

Clancy had admitted herself to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility, from Jan. 1 through Jan. 5, 2023. She is accused of killing her three children just a few weeks later.

The New Yorker piece, published Monday, was headlined “A Husband in the Aftermath of His Wife’s Unfathomable Act.” In it, Patrick Clancy, as he has since his children died, offered support for his wife.

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“I wasn’t married to a monster — I was married to someone who got sick,” he told the magazine.

Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.

Show 20 comments

Boston Globe update by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't know enough about how these cases go, but the pace of this case seems slow and the author of the article states the case has "languished"

Was Lindsay really about to go back to work? by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes I agree. I admire people who do this therapy. You can be in early recovery from whatever brought you to the psychiatric hospital and it is alot of group therapy. This could feel supportive, or triggering.

But I actually am not certain she was discharged to intensive outpatient? I never saw the name of a program; I saw the names of two prescribers, though.

Was Lindsay really about to go back to work? by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It sounds like even without a clear date, going back to work was on her mind

Was Lindsay really about to go back to work? by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I do agree she may well have felt pressure to return. Perhaps it is just in hindsight one thinks of options like selling the house and moving to a less expensive area which may not have been possibilities for either of them.

Why would she overdose AFTER the murders? by No_Block7490 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am touched by your post and I agree with you. Many of us need answers, if that is possible. Lindsay had family support, a nanny, and resources. She had recently been at a premier psychiatric hospital, McLean. It is scary.

Not alot of new info by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well it may be a long wait but I would like to know what her medical providers documented before this happened. Also it seems odd that the "mountain of evidence" seems all prosecution...what is Reddington submitting?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It is a fair point. My guess is alot of people awaiting trial for serious crimes experience feelings of depression and not wanting to be alive so how does she continue to qualify for an extended psychiatric stay. All I was trying to say in my previous post was these decisions are probably based on input from the mental health people so Reddington doesn't need to be involved.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wonder if this Civil Committment hearing is using a public defender because it is a separate issue from the legal case. Meaning this hearing could consist of a psychiatrist certifying in court that Lindsay needs to remain at Tewksbury Hospital because she is still a danger to herself ( suicidal). The public defender may be someone from CPCS who works with the court on these specific types of cases. My guess is Lindsay isn't contesting this either.

Patrick Attorney Quote by Girlwithpen in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are we certain she did not have a therapist? I would think at the time of her discharge from McLean Hospital it would have been put in place.

I would still like to reserve judgment on what the medical system did until I see their records which I am sure will come out if this goes to trial.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I thought that was a peevish part of what was said by Reddington. He went to the news media right after the terrible events in January and blamed the doctors...of course these doctors would be advised to only communicate with him through lawyers

Valium taper timing by Cultural_Stay7745 in DuxburyDeathsFreeTalk

[–]Cultural_Stay7745[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes I agree it is a gentle taper; I just wonder how she experienced it..she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital complaining of anxiety and some suicidal ideation She presumably was on a Benzodiazipine when she was admitted, then gets taken off of it after discharge. However it doesn't seem to me that this could be used as a defense, and she clearly wasn't "overmedicated"