Lindsay Clancy, 36 years old, has become the conscience of the United States.
This woman sits in the defendant’s dock in the Plymouth (Massachusetts) court for the horrible triple crime, which she has not denied, of killing her three children, Cora, five years old, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months old.
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In a vengeful country, where the majority still supports the death penalty (66% according to a survey from last July by Pew Research), and for crimes much less gruesome and chilling, it happens that hundreds of women dressed in pink gather outside the court to support the accused and demand her acquittal. They claim she acted unconsciously due to psychosis after giving birth.
If this happened in any other case, it would be a show of solidarity that would cause scandal. Not a few express their astonishment that more concern is shown for that woman than for her three children.
But Clancy, a nurse who worked in postpartum care, is not a typical murder defendant. For months, after the birth of her third child, she tried to receive treatment for what she described as a worsening mental state in the postpartum period. Then she killed her children, as she has confessed, in what she claims was a state of psychosis.
The resolution seems complicated. Clancy, despite admitting to the murders, has pleaded not guilty
Today the start of the arguments that will lead the jury to decide a verdict is expected, and the resolution seems complicated because it debates between being the perpetrator and her guilt. Clancy, despite admitting to that authorship, has pleaded not guilty.
Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney, argues that Clancy is not guilty because she lacks criminal responsibility for her actions, which is more commonly known as a defense of insanity. The lawyer argues that the defendant suffered postpartum depression and psychosis at the time the murders occurred.
A psychologist testified this Tuesday and contradicted that version. She was aware of the illegality of killing others, including her children, but acted that way because of “her strong desire to die,” said Kirk Heilbrun. Pressed by the defense, the expert acknowledged his limited experience with postpartum mental health issues.
The trial is coming to an end with the prosecutor’s conviction that the accused must pay for what she did
But the prosecutor emphasizes that she must pay for what she did. In his version, this woman planned the murders by sending her husband to get food and medicine and, while he was out, strangled the children to death with exercise bands. Afterwards, Clancy cut her wrists and neck and jumped out of a second-floor window. She was left paralyzed. She uses a wheelchair.
Should she be treated as just another murderer? This is the question that emerges as a psychological test for Americans fascinated by this case.
Some claim that Clancy was abandoned by a system that does not take postpartum-related mental illnesses seriously.
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“It shouldn’t take a tragedy for people to pay attention to mental health,” Renee Kimball, organizer of the gathering outside the Plymouth criminal court, told The New York Times.
Others feel horrified by such arguments and consider them to ignore the facts. “I don’t look at her and feel sorry for her,” said Megyn Kelly, former Fox News host and commentator: “There are three dead children!”.
Whatever the verdict, for many citizens, especially women, this reflects all kinds of social problems they perceive in society.
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