MASSACHUSETTS - The defence has rested in the murder trial of an American woman accused of murdering her three children, after claiming she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyers do not dispute that she killed her three children at their home in Massachusetts.
They said she did so because of a severe mental illness, and that she experienced hallucinations of a voice telling her to do so.
Ahead of the defence resting its case on Friday, Clancy’s lawyers sought to strengthen their argument that the 36-year-old killed her children in January 2023 because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis by questioning more of her family members about her mental state at the time.
Clancy’s mother told the court that in December 2022, while also in the presence of her husband, “She told us she had thoughts of harming the children.”
A psychologist who treated Clancy in hospital after the killings told the court that she had a mental disease or defect.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said the former labour and delivery nurse is guilty of murder because she planned the killings rationally and made sure her husband was out of the house when she choked her children, aged five, three and eight months.
The case has drawn significant attention online and has also seen hundreds of people, mostly women, many dressed in pink, turn up outside the Massachusetts court to support Clancy.
The groups said they are trying to raise awareness of how the mental health system treats women.
Many wore clothing with phrases such as “Believe”, “She Needed Help” and “Peace for Lindsay”.
The trial has also drawn TikTok and social media commentators spreading conspiracy theories about the case.
These include a theory that her former husband, Patrick, who has not been charged with any crime, was involved.
On Friday afternoon, prosecutors began calling “rebuttal witnesses” and are expected to make their closing arguments next week.
The case has received international attention, and the final days of the trial are being watched closely around the world.
Mitch McCann reports from the United States.