By
August 25, 2026 / 2:43 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
The jury in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who killed her three children, will decide if she can be held criminally responsible for the murders. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. The defense has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and can't be held liable due to insanity. The prosecution argues she planned the murders and was not psychotic.If Clancy is found guilty of first-degree murder, Massachusetts law has a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. If she's convicted of a lesser murder charge, she would still face extensive prison time, but could have the possibility of parole at some point, WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman told CBS News Boston. Clancy's physical condition — she is paralyzed from the waist down due to an alleged suicide attempt — will likely affect where she is placed if she is convicted. "Certainly given her physical limitations and the fact that she's on 24/7 suicide watch currently is going to influence how the prison system deals with her and manages her, if that's ultimately what happens," Roman said. If Clancy is found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, she won't face prison time, but she also won't go free. "She would then be committed to a state mental health facility, where she is now, indefinitely," CBS News legal analyst Caroline Polisi said on "CBS Mornings" Monday. Clancy is currently being held at Tewksbury Hospital.
