Lindsay Clancy murder trial: Defense nears end of its case as closing arguments loom

A hospital chaplain testified that days after Lindsay Clancy's three children were killed, Clancy told her from her hospital bed: "I am so glad my children are safe."

Sheila Cavanaugh, a board-certified chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said she visited Clancy on Jan. 31, 2023. She described Clancy as covered in tubes and wearing a neck brace, with a flat, neutral affect. Cavanaugh said she responded that the children were safe in heaven with God, and the two prayed together.

Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, told Fox News the case has resonated across the country because of what it reveals about the treatment of mothers struggling with postpartum mental illness.

"It's the message that just has reverberated throughout the whole country," Reddington said in an interview outside court Wednesday. He said the case has shined a light on a mental health system that too often falls short, describing a pattern in which a struggling woman sees a doctor, is prescribed one pill after another, is seen briefly and sent on her way. "It's just not right," he said.

Asked what he would say to those who cannot understand sympathizing with a mother who killed her three children, Reddington said no one agrees with murder, but that is what juries are for, to weigh whether the government can prove its case. He said he believed the outpouring of support would help Clancy, whom he described as beaten down and saddened by the case. He declined to call himself an advocate for women.

Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

Many who have gathered in pink on Thursday say the show of support is not an endorsement of what happened, but a stand for maternal mental health awareness and for mothers suffering from postpartum conditions.

A crowd of supporters, many wearing pink, gathered outside Plymouth Superior Court on Wednesday in a public show of solidarity for Lindsay Clancy as her murder trial moves toward closing arguments.

The gathering came as Clancy's defense nears the end of its case. Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, said this week that Clancy is aware of the support she has been receiving. Her lawyers argue she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis when her three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, were killed in 2023. Prosecutors contend she acted deliberately and was in control of her actions.