Defense rests in Lindsay Clancy's triple-murder trial

Defense rests in Lindsay Clancy's triple-murder trial

Lindsay Clancy trial: Defense rests, with prosecution rebuttal case to follow | CNN

By Nicki Brown, CNN. Published 11:56 AM ET, Fri August 21, 2026. Updated 12:46 PM ET, Fri August 21, 2026.

The defense rested Friday in the triple-murder trial of Lindsay Clancy after calling10 witnesses who testified about her mental health conditions and her efforts to seek treatment in the months before she fatally strangled her three children.

Clancy did not take the stand.

Prosecutors are now presenting rebuttal witnesses before the parties deliver their closing arguments in the case, which has ignited a national conversation about maternal and postpartum mental health.

The defense's final witness, the forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick, testified Friday that Clancy was "frankly psychotic" the day of the killings, and offered support for the defendant's claim she heard a voice that ordered her to kill the children and herself.

"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," said Resnick, who has been involved in multiple high-profile filicide cases.

The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, however, argues the former labor and delivery nurse murdered her children "deliberately and meticulously" and was not in a state of psychosis when she did so. Though prosecutors acknowledge Clancy had mental health issues, they contend she manipulated her providers and constantly changed treatment plans as she sought a "quick and easy fix."

Clancy, 36, does not deny she fatally strangled her children - Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan - in the basement of their Massachusetts home in January 2023.

The case has drawn widespread attention to postpartum mental health, with advocates arguing Clancy's case highlights the need for better screening and treatment for new mothers.

From the trial's earlier defense-case testimony, as recapped in this report:

Dr. Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist who evaluated Clancy for the defense, testified she had bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis: "She was unable to conform her behaviors to the rule of law, and she had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act."

Dr. Simone Condie, a forensic psychologist, explained psychosis as "a lack of understanding of what's real opposed to what is not."

Dr. Monique Buckingham, Clancy's longtime primary care physician, defended the treatment she provided under cross-examination: "For a person who's begging for help, wouldn't it be important to be honest with the providers about what you're feeling, seeing, and hearing?"

Dr. Catherine Hamp, a psychiatrist who treated Clancy in the days before the killings, testified about their discussions of the Andrea Yates case: "I asked (Clancy) if she had ever heard of the Andrea Yates case and she hadn't." "I explained that to her and she cried." "How could a mother hurt her children?"

A hospital chaplain testified about a conversation with Clancy: "She said to me as I held her hand to comfort her: 'I am so glad my children are safe.'"

Clancy previously told doctors she heard a voice, and believed that if she did not follow the command, neither she nor her children would be safe.