Inside the Final Days of the Lindsay Clancy Trial

**Natalie Morales** (0:00)
As a warning, some of this content contains graphic and disturbing details, including discussions of suicide and the killing of children. So please listen or watch with care. We'll have resources at the end of the episode.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:15)
I'm not going to declare a mistrial this time. What I am going to do is, I'm going to bring the jury in, I'm going to tell them to disregard it, I'm going to tell them that's an inappropriate way of inquiry and that this witness's understanding of Catholic dogma or Catholic teaching is irrelevant.

**Natalie Morales** (0:37)
That was the judge in the Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy case in one of several tense moments this week as the trial comes to a close. Now this was a shocking moment in the trial when one of the prosecution's expert witnesses brought up the Clancy family's Catholic faith while on the stand. And it led to defense attorney Kevin Reddington requesting a mistrial immediately due to intentional misconduct. Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury, Massachusetts mother, has been on trial for the past five weeks for the killing of her three young children, five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. And as a reminder, Lindsay is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of jumping from her second story window after killing her three children that night in her own attempt to kill herself. Now, there is no question as to whether Lindsay killed her children. Now, what the jury has to decide is whether she should be held criminally responsible. The defense argued that she experienced undiagnosed postpartum psychosis that took away her ability to control her actions and therefore that she should not be found criminally responsible. They also argued that her condition was exacerbated by the 13 different psychiatric medications she had been prescribed. I do want to emphasize though that it is the prosecution that has the burden of proof here.
I'm 48 Hours correspondent Natalie Morales and this is Case by Case. Now, we've been following this case closely in our last several episodes. For our continuing coverage, you can check the Case by Case feed wherever you find your podcasts. You can also watch episodes of Case by Case on the 48 Hours YouTube channel, or by searching Case by Case on Paramount Plus.
Returning this week is CBS News legal analyst, Caroline Polisi, who has covered this case with us before. Caroline, so great to always have your insights and your input on this very important case. Thanks for being here.

**Caroline Polisi** (2:41)
Thanks for having me, Natalie.

**Natalie Morales** (2:43)
Caroline, this has become such an emotionally divisive case for those who've been watching closely both inside and outside the courtroom.
It's a case, as we've said, it has garnered such huge interest. It's sparked lots of important conversations regarding mental health, particularly maternal mental health. Now, the courtroom in Plymouth, Massachusetts has been packed for weeks.
And Caroline, what we've really seen, this has become a battle of the medical experts with conflicting and sometimes opposing testimony throughout the past five weeks and some very tense moments. And I want to start by asking you about an intense moment during the rebuttal. After the defense rested their case, the prosecution then called forensic psychologist, Dr. Kirk Heilbronn to the stand. Now, he had evaluated Lindsay in April of this year, and he recounted what she told him about her recollection and state of mind at the time of the killings three years ago. Let's play some of his testimony.

**Kirk Heilbronn** (3:43)
One of the things that she said when asked about what happened is that in the course of strangling each child, she said, go to God, baby, go to God.
And that was part of her expectation that she and the children would be together in heaven with God. She was raised as a Catholic, and this, as I understand, Catholic considerations, that's not necessarily what happens. But when I asked her about that, when I said, isn't suicide a mortal sin?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:27)
Yeah, I see council over here.

**Natalie Morales** (4:29)
Well, you heard immediately there, that's Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, then calling for that mistrial. Here he is asking Judge Sullivan.

**Kevin Reddington** (4:40)
It's a concern I have because this is just over the top. It's the same thing again, talking about religion, talking about heaven, talking about killing people and the impact or the effect that it would have on Lindsay as well as her children.
The fact that this is not the first time that it occurred during the trial and the prosecution has previously brought up the concept of mortal sin based on your ruling in the past in conjunction with the fact that they brought it up again. I believe it was intentional misconduct and I feel that the court should grant the motion for mistrial.