Deeply troubled mum or cold-blooded murderer? How Lindsay Clancy’s trial has gripped America – so what would you decide?

IT sounds like it should be a simple guilty verdict. A mother waited for her husband to leave and run errands, then violently strangled her three children with exercise bands. Lindsay Clancy is on trial for killing her three young children, with jurors deadlocked over whether she was a cold-blooded killer or suffering from postpartum psychosis Credit: Reuters Patrick Clancy in court looking at images of himself with his children on holiday a month before they were killed Credit: Reuters Instead, five weeks into the extraordinary trial of former nurse Lindsay Clancy, the jury — made up of nine women and three men — are still in deadlock after six days of deliberation. Outside the courtroom and across the internet, Lindsay’s supporters are pleading for them to find the former midwife innocent of three counts of first-degree murder. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Here in Massachusetts where the trial is taking place, the streets are lined with her supporters. Many are mothers themselves — dressed in pink tops with slogans such as “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay” to show her they are on her side. Parents have taken their kids out of school to stand outside the courthouse in “solidarity” with Lindsay. One mum rowed with another mother on the opposite side. Some people have ditched work to livestream from the outside the courthouse. One told us: “I started with 2,000 followers, now I have 20,000.” Most read in The Sun The couple’s daughter Cora with their sons Callan and Dawson Credit: Instagram/heardwithlove Prosecutors say Lindsay contrived to get her then-husband Patrick out of the house by sending him to get a takeaway and to the pharmacy before choking her kids with exercise bands Credit: Facebook It is a case that has gripped America since 2023 when Lindsay, 36, admitted killing Cora, five, Dawson, three, and baby Callan in the basement of their family home on January 24 that year. The troubled mother then slashed her wrists and neck and threw herself out of a second-storey window, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. The prosecution argues Lindsay made a calculated, intentional decision to kill her three small children. But her lawyer says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and therefore could not distinguish right from wrong. The case has become an internet sensation with amateur sleuths and armchair detectives turning the trial into whodunit content, dissecting every detail and advancing theories across TikTok. Patrick and his then-wife out with their three kids Credit: Plymouth Superior Court Lindsay Clancy’s parents, Michael and Paula Musgrove, leaving courtroom this week Credit: AFP Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has become an unlikely hero to her supporters who say he is fighting for every mother that has been in crisis. If convicted, Lindsay faces a potential life sentence without parole. If she is found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would be committed to a mental health hospital with reviews to determine if she could safely be released. But as the case continues to divide not just America but the world, what would you decide? Here, we lay out the arguments from both sides. THE PROSECUTION An angry protester outside the courthouse in Massachusetts where the trial is taking place Credit: AFP Superior Court Judge William Sullivan listening to proceedings Credit: AP Prosecutors say Lindsay was a “functioning mum” who meticulously planned the murder of her three young children inside their suburban home. They do not dispute that she had mental health problems and tried to end her life, but they question her mental state at the time of the killings. In court, they argued that she plotted the murders ahead of time and acted with intention, which indicates she was not psychotic. Prosecutors say Lindsay contrived to get her then-husband Patrick out of the house by sending him to get a takeaway and to the pharmacy before choking her kids with exercise bands. It was discussed how she was looking up how long it would take her ex-husband to get to the restaurant and back, which they maintain was to ensure she had enough time to execute the killings. Patrick then called her to find out what medication he should be getting and she did not answer. She then phoned him back and the call lasted 14 seconds. The defence says the voices in Lindsay’s head and the killings did not start until after Patrick called her. But, as the prosecution says, that is not enough time to murder her three children and try to kill herself. They asserted that Lindsay must have begun carrying out the killings immediately after her husband left home, disputing her claim that she killed her children in just under 20 minutes. They also put forward an argument that her Apple Watch recorded her climbing flights of stairs three times, including after the call. Her critics say this proves she rang Patrick back after she killed her children as she was not recorded coming back downstairs. The state also cast doubt on the defence’s accounts of hallucinations, pointing out that medical records indicate Lindsay did not report hearing voices until after her children’s deaths. One of her psychiatrists testified that she did not show signs of psychosis during their sessions. They say Lindsay was not over-medicated because few or no pills were missing from the bottles of the 13 prescription medications she was given. And they called a doctor to the stand who disputed her account of the voices. The doctor testified that it was unusual for the voices to stop abruptly right after the strangulation. They noted that Lindsay never reported hearing voices to medical providers prior to the incident, and found her overall timeline unconvincing. The prosecution argued that Lindsay’s suicide attempt was “superficial” even though she said the voice was compelling her to do it. The drugs were not taken in high enough quantities to die, the cuts were not deep enough and the window was not high enough. If she were truly compelled by a voice, they said, Lindsay would have succeeded. A state police investigator described searches made on her phone days before the killings in which she sought information about schizophrenia, hallucinations and psychosis. She also searched, “Can you treat a sociopath?” The prosecution’s final witness was FBI psychiatrist Dr Gregory Saathoff who said that Lindsay could still appreciate right from wrong and control her behaviour when she killed her children. He pointed to her “preparatory planning” which included conducting searches on her phone and mapping the distance from their home to a restaurant. In their closing argument, the prosecution argued that Lindsay killed her kids as she was upset and she wanted to end her misery, but they were keeping her alive. She therefore had to “remove the protective factor” and that it was a “choice she made”. The prosecution is pushing for a first-degree murder conviction. THE DEFENCE Lindsay’s supporters gathering outside the court wearing pink T-shirts last month Credit: Getty Lindsay Clancy’s defence admits she killed her three children but claims postpartum psychosis and terrifying voices drove her to the killings Credit: Facebook/ Lindsay Marie Clancy The defendant’s legal team have never rejected her role in the choking of her three children. Instead, they have put forth a defence of insanity, arguing that Lindsay had hallucinations and delusions after giving birth to her youngest child. They say she killed her children after a voice told her to do it — then tried to kill herself. Their defence hinges on her suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which postpartum women can experience mania, depression or a mixture of both. Lindsay’s ex-husband Patrick told the court that she had experienced anxiety after the births of their first two children. He said her symptoms returned after their third child was born in 2022 and they intensified as she prepared to return to work. She was then prescribed more than a dozen different medications by doctors which her lawyers argue drastically affected her mind. Patrick said that clinicians had failed to monitor her reactions to the meds “or attend to her worsening psychiatric conditions”. He testified that twice in December 2022 — a month before the killings — Lindsay had told him she had harboured thoughts of harming their children. She admitted herself to an outpatient programme for postpartum depression before admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital in January 2023 where she stayed for five days. Medical professionals testified that Lindsay had months of severe postpartum depression symptoms and said she made two calls to a suicide hotline before the killings. A hospital chaplain said that Clancy mentioned multiple times after the killings that a persistent male voice was goading her to kill her children and herself. Patrick claimed later that month she heard “a compelling and unrecognisable singular male voice” telling her that she “should die”. He described seeing his son Dawson sitting on the couch eating chicken nuggets before he left the home to get medication and a takeaway. He came back 54 minutes later to find his children dead. Despite never being a suspect, baseless conspiracy theories have swirled online about his involvement. Patrick has come under fire by armchair detectives for remarrying in April 2026 — just three years after the incident — and allegedly taking a holiday to Costa Rica 18 days after his children’s funeral. Lindsay’s supporters have also criticised how supportive he was as a husband. They argue CCTV footage shows Patrick not helping her with the kids, despite her fragile state. They also picked holes in the timeline. During the trial, it was testified that Lindsay was hypothermic after falling out of the window with a core body temperature of 27C when paramedics arrived. Web detectives say that her temperature could not have been that low if she had only just thrown herself from the window, suggesting she must have been outside longer. Patrick claims Lindsay told him that the children were in the basement when he arrived back home. But TikTok sleuths pointed out emergency responders testified she could only mumble and moan after her suicide attempt. Patrick also said that when he got home he tried to call 911 but he had Wi-Fi issues which sleuths say “doesn’t add up” as emergency calls do not need an internet connection. The prosecution put forward an argument that Clancy crushed pills in her drink before trying to kill herself, which showed she was lucid. But her defence said the medication was never tested and there was no pill crusher or residue found. Patrick’s mother also testified that Lindsay was “begging for help” in the months before the killings and disclosed her struggle with anxiety, depression and insomnia that year. She also described her as a warm and devoted mum. A former colleague testified that Lindsay was a compassionate midwife who was deeply emotional about patients’ deliveries. Lindsay broke down several times in court when jurors were shown autopsy photos of her children.