The defense rested in Lindsay Clancy’s Massachusetts murder trial Friday.

Jurors heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick, a key witness in the Andrea Yates case after she killed her five children in Texas in 2001. He testified that Clancy said she felt an “external force” take over her body before the murders.

The prosecution then began calling rebuttal witnesses before the trial goes to closing arguments, as is protocol when an insanity defense is presented. The first witness for the prosecution, also a forensic psychiatrist, said Clancy recalled telling the children “go to God” as she strangled them.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, in their Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023. 

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said the prosecution will call three rebuttal witnesses. Closing arguments are expected early next week.

Resnick testified for the defense in the 2006 Andrea Yates trial. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Resnick testified that Yates suffered from severe postpartum psychosis.

Prosecution rebuttal witnesses

The first rebuttal witness called by prosecutors was forensic psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack. He interviewed Clancy in April of this year, saying she seemed normal but did tear up at points. He said she wasn’t happy with the food at Tewksbury Hospital and wasn’t interested in physical therapy. 

“She described feeling miserable, not wanting to be alive,” Mack said.

He concluded that Clancy probably suffered from a major depressive episode and anxiety. But he said there was no evidence that she was ever bipolar in a manic state, like the defense has argued.

Mack also cast doubt on the defense’s main argument that Clancy was psychotic at the time of the killings because she was overmedicated.

“I can appreciate that she felt side effects and a degree of change from the medications that she took,” he said. “I don’t know that that feeling or belief is necessary psychotic.” 

Mack said Clancy told him that on the day of the murders, she heard a loud male voice in the late afternoon.

“The voice said, to the effect of, ‘you should kill the kids this is your last chance so that you can kill yourself,” Mack said.

He said she described how she strangled and killed the children.

“She described that while that was happening, she was saying out loud, ‘go to God,” Mack said.

Mack also testified that Clancy seemed to know the difference between right and wrong.

“My opinion is that she retained the capacity required for having criminal responsibly for these actions,” he said.

Contentious cross-examination between Mack and Reddington followed. Reddington asked how Mack investigated Clancy’s past, and Mack answered it was by talking with Clancy after the murders and reviewing records.

“So you’re in a mental institution investigating or questioning a woman who’s on medication, who is there because she’s suicidal and under 24/7 operation … and you get the history from her?”

“Yes,” Mack replied.

Reddington also questioned Mack about his resume at length, saying that his experience appears to be more in child and adolescent psychiatry than with pregnant women. He also attacked Mack’s assertion that Clancy had long resisted taking medication.

“Are you making this up? She didn’t tell you that,” Reddington said.

Dr. Phillip Resnick testimony 

Resnick’s testimony over Zoom was delayed by technical difficulties. He explained to the jury that he recently had surgery that prevented him from flying to Massachusetts for the trial.

When testimony resumed, Resnick said he’s been involved in 80 cases where mothers and fathers have allegedly killed their children. He’s also consulted on high-profile trials including Jeffrey Dahmer, the Unabomber and Casey Anthony. 

Resnick said he did a full evaluation of Clancy about four months after the murders. He said he spent three hours interviewing Clancy and also interviewed her parents.

Resnick said Clancy appeared “somewhat matter-of-fact” and “muted,” but nurses told him she was crying daily about the loss of her children. 

He said he reviewed a psychological test that the government had Clancy take and found there was “no evidence of faking psychiatric symptoms.”

Resnick said it was his opinion that Clancy was suffering from severe depression, mild mania, and bipolar disorder as she approached the date of the murders. 

“She was clearly psychotic on that day,” Resnick said, adding that she was under the influence of a “command hallucination.”

“Not only did she hear a command, but she felt that her body was taken over by an external force where she was in a dream state and did not have control of her own body,” Resnick said. “It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings.”

Resnick also said Clancy may have believed she was doing what was right for her children.

“She was obsessional about caring for her children,” he said. “She believed that she would be doing her children a favor by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on Earth without her doing the mothering. Her mind was very distorted like that.”

During cross-examination, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague noted that in an article Resnick wrote called “Faking It,” he said command hallucinations are easy to fabricate and people often ignore the commands if they are dangerous.

Sprague also tried to highlight the differences between the Yates and Clancy cases. She said that before killing her children, Yates committed herself to a hospital five times and tried to kill herself twice after hearing voices.

“Ms. Clancy heard the voice and immediately acted, is that correct?” Sprague asked.

“No, Ms. Clancy had impulses to harm her children and she did resist until the command hallucination when she was overwhelmed,” Resnick replied.

Sprague disputed that records showed Clancy had been crying every day about her children. She also said notes showed Clancy had expressed hope about someday becoming an advocate for postpartum issues and even participating in a wheelchair marathon. 

Lindsay Clancy trial

In Clancy’s case, the prosecution alleges she planned the murders before faking a suicide attempt.  Reddington has attempted to show that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible for the murders because she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum psychosis. 

If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. If found not criminally responsible for the deaths of her children, she will be sent to a state psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts.     

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

For more information about mental healthcare resources and support, the National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.