A forensic psychologist testified that Lindsay Clancy was suffering from a mental disease or defect when she killed her three children and is not criminally responsible for their deaths.
“She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Dr. Paul Zeizel said on the stand Wednesday in Clancy’s triple murder trial.
Clancy doesn’t dispute that she strangled her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months, on Jan. 24, 2023, before trying to kill herself, leaving her paralyzed.
Instead, her attorney Kevin Reddington has argued that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, a diagnosis for Clancy, along with bipolar disorder, that Zeizel described on the stand.
Zeizel said that he made his determination by looking at Clancy’s medical records, interviewing third parties like family and people who knew Clancy, as well as sitting down with the defendant dozens of times.
He went through her medical history in the fall of 2022 and into January 2023, describing the persistent intrusive thoughts she experienced the last month the children were alive.
“She wasn’t just having everyday thoughts that we all have… intrusive thoughts are unrelenting, they don’t stop,” Zeizel said. “They were getting worse and telling her to kill herself.”
He categorized what had been catalogued as intrusive thoughts by Clancy at the time as “repeated auditory hallucinations,” voices that she didn’t think were hers but couldn’t determine their origin.
Zeizel mentioned her googling questions about whether sociopaths can be treated, as well as what the symptoms of hallucinations and psychosis are, days before the killings. (Zeizel also noted that in a psychological test, he found that Clancy didn’t have any type of anti-social disease or sociopathy.)
On cross-examination, when asked about the activities Clancy was able to complete the day that she killed her children – driving, going to the doctor, directing her then-husband to pick up medicine for Cora – Zeizel explained that someone in the midst of psychosis might have trouble doing new tasks but would be able to do things that were a part of their everyday.
“Psychosis doesn’t lower your ability to do those things,” Zeizel said.
Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham also asked whether masking psychosis would have taken a lot of control.
The psychologist testified that that would depend on how loud the auditory hallucinations sounded to the individual.
She questioned how Zeizel came to the conclusion that Clancy had heard voices in the lead-up to and night of the killings.
“Where in the records… did she tell any of the providers she saw that she heard a voice telling her to kill herself,” Buckingham asked.
“It was not in the records,” Zeizel said.
Buckingham also asked if she’d heard voices since.
“She has not heard voices since the event took place,” Zeizel said.
The prosecutor also spent a lot of time asking Zeizel about his impartiality in the case.
Objectivity is a tenet of forensic psychology, Zeizel agreed, saying that for that reason, “you can not be a therapist and an examiner.”
Buckingham then pointed to a court filing about Clancy’s accommodations during the trial where Zeizel called Clancy his patient.
“If I examined her, she’s my patient,” he said.
Zeizel said he’d seen Clancy about 60 times since first meeting her in February 2023, including 20 visits to her since the trial started.
He said that this helped him make a more informed opinion of Clancy’s mental state and lack of criminal responsibility.
But Buckingham asked whether that number of visits was typical.
“It does happen, but it’s not typical,” Zeizel answered.
Buckingham also asked Zeizel about records from Tewksbury Hospital, where Clancy had been getting treatment while awaiting trial.
She read out notes on Clancy’s behavior on Callan, Dawson, and Cora’s birthdays, as well as the anniversary of the killings. On those days, Clancy was observed accepting medications, sometimes socializing with select patients, engaging with staff, hanging out in the TV room, and getting a visit from her parents, who would bring dinner.
On redirect, Reddington also asked whether those activities were indicative of her mental state, and Zeizel said no.
Although Clancy has not attempted to kill herself since the night of the killings, she does have suicidal ideation and is always accompanied by a staff member to ensure she doesn’t follow through with those thoughts at Tewksbury Hospital, Zeizel said.
“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” he said.
Zeizel also said he has been seeing Clancy in lockup during the trial to determine her stability and whether she is still competent to stand trial.
“You got into this case out of compassion,” Reddington asked Zeizel, and the psychologist said yes.
Reddington also asked if the doctor cared about Clancy.
“I do,” he said.
“Is that a violation of … ethics?” Reddington followed up.
Zeizel said no, telling the jury that it could be seen as an asset: “Within the ethical standard, it may be appropriate and meaningful during a forensic evaluation to develop empathy.”
