# The Lindsay Clancy Trial Mini Series: The Defence's Case

An episode of [True Crime Conversations](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1469153910), 1 Sep 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/3ea926be-9be7-482a-8ac3-a44f016e43d1/abaa347e-8ac5-454e-85f9-aa64005c285f/e25aaeb5-929f-4240-8021-b4b800449813/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=6d9fdc19-147e-4f77-8d3f-aa64005e5923

After 14 days of testimony and nearly 70 witnesses presented by the prosecution, the defence in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial took the floor. Their core argument? That Lindsay should not be held criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children because she was in the depths of severe postpartum psychosis. In the latest episode of our mini-series tracking the trial, we walk through the defence's argument, led by attorney Kevin Reddington. Featuring powerful testimony from Lindsay’s mother, mother-in-law, and key psychiatric experts, the defence presents evidence to show a devoted mother begging for help, misdiagnosed, and allegedly failed by a fragmented medical system. We also examine the prosecution's rebuttal, including testimony from FBI psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff, who challenged the credibility of Lindsay’s auditory hallucinations. LINKS If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. Contact Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578, 7 days, 24 hours. GET IN TOUCH Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @truecrimeconversations Want us to cover a case on the podcast? Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note. Make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple & Spotify to let us know how you're liking the episodes. CREDITS Host & Executive Producer: Gemma Bath Producer: Ella Maitland Video Editor: Julian Rosario Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast. Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Gemma Bath, host of True Crime Conversations, and
[0:03] Speaker 1: welcome to our mini-series unpacking the trial of Lindsay Clancy
[0:06] Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, the case the entire world can't take their
[0:10] Speaker 1: eyes off. We've been updating you multiple times a week
[0:13] Speaker 1: in this feed as the court proceedings continue to unfold.
[0:17] Speaker 1: Just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence against
[0:21] Speaker 1: children and suicide. In our last episode, we took you
[0:24] Speaker 1: through why the world is so obsessed with this trial.
[0:29] Speaker 2: Today.
[0:29] Speaker 3: we're going to.
[0:30] Speaker 1: Walk you through the defence's case. Once the prosecution had
[0:34] Speaker 1: rested after 14 days of testimony and nearly 70 witnesses,
[0:39] Speaker 1: it was.
[0:39] Speaker 3: Time for the defence to take over.
[0:41] Speaker 1: The defence, of course, had already had the chance to
[0:44] Speaker 1: cross-examine those called to the stand by the prosecution, but
[0:48] Speaker 1: they were running the show and called 10 of their
[0:50] Speaker 1: own witnesses for about a week. It should be noted
[0:54] Speaker 1: that the prosecution then got the chance to come back
[0:57] Speaker 1: with rebuttal witnesses, of which they called three, and took
[1:01] Speaker 1: the jury through another five days of testimony before closing
[1:05] Speaker 1: arguments were finally given by both.
[1:07] Speaker 3: Sides on August 27th.
[1:10] Speaker 1: Now, let's rewind to the defence's opening statement back in
[1:14] Speaker 1: late July 2026, when Lindsay Clancy's murder trial had just started.
[1:20] Speaker 1: The prosecution has always argued that Lindsay deliberately killed her
[1:24] Speaker 1: three children and was acting intentionally and rationally. They say
[1:29] Speaker 1: her motive was being increasingly overwhelmed by her life and
[1:33] Speaker 1: her inability to maintain the level of control she wanted.
[1:36] Speaker 1: This is how Kevin Reddington, Lindsay's lawyer, opened her defence.
[1:41] Speaker 2: They brought this charge. Tim Cruise, the DEA, right in
[1:44] Speaker 2: the front row brought this charge. He knew, as did
[1:48] Speaker 2: his office, the facts of this case. And he knew,
[1:52] Speaker 2: when he brought this charge, that it was going to
[1:55] Speaker 2: kill the soul of this young woman. And they would
[1:59] Speaker 2: bring their evidence in front of a jury that she
[2:05] Speaker 2: knows that she killed these children. We'll sit here and
[2:10] Speaker 2: listen to their evidence. But I suggest to you that
[2:13] Speaker 2: the issue of consideration is what was going on in
[2:19] Speaker 2: that woman's mind.
[2:21] Speaker 1: Reddington alleges that Lindsay Clancy was in the depths of
[2:24] Speaker 1: a postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children, Cora,
[2:28] Speaker 1: Dawson and Callan, in the basement of their Duxbury home
[2:31] Speaker 1: in January 2023. The defence says she shouldn't be held
[2:35] Speaker 1: criminally responsible for their deaths because she was suffering from
[2:39] Speaker 1: a disease and a defect.
[2:41] Speaker 2: She told them that she was suicidal. She told them
[2:44] Speaker 2: that she had suicidal ideation and in December, to his
[2:50] Speaker 2: and her ever dying regret, told Patrick in the presence
[3:00] Speaker 2: of her mother that she was having psychosis thoughts of
[3:04] Speaker 2: hurting the children. This is a woman that did not
[3:11] Speaker 2: get the medication, did not get the medical treatment that
[3:17] Speaker 2: she so deserved. This is a woman that was suffering
[3:20] Speaker 2: from psychosis at the time that she went down to
[3:26] Speaker 2: that basement. She had no motive. She loved her children.
[3:33] Speaker 2: She intended to kill herself.
[3:35] Speaker 1: A big part of the defense case is criticizing her
[3:38] Speaker 1: psychiatric care and questioning the treatment she was provided. The
[3:43] Speaker 1: jury heard from Patrick Clancy, who has publicly.
[3:46] Speaker 3: Forgiven Lindsay earlier in the trial.
[3:49] Speaker 1: He told the court she was a devoted mother who
[3:51] Speaker 1: experienced a big spiral in her mental health in the
[3:55] Speaker 1: December of 2022. Reddington turned to other family and friends
[3:59] Speaker 1: to bolster that defence. This was her mother, Paula Musgrove,
[4:04] Speaker 1: on the stand.
[4:04] Speaker 2: Did you notice at some point a change in Lindsay's demeanour?
[4:09] Speaker 4: Yes.
[4:10] Speaker 2: Tell the jury when that was.
[4:13] Speaker 4: It was sometime probably around the second week of October.
[4:17] Speaker 2: What happened that you noticed?
[4:19] Speaker 4: I noticed that she had become very anxious. She told
[4:26] Speaker 4: me she was anxious about going back to work because
[4:31] Speaker 4: Callan was having trouble taking a bottle and she didn't
[4:34] Speaker 4: feel right about leaving him.
[4:36] Speaker 1: Her mother told the court Lindsay opened up more about
[4:39] Speaker 1: her mental health in late October. After that, Paula and
[4:42] Speaker 1: her husband visited the family more, often staying with them
[4:45] Speaker 1: to give Lindsay more support.
[4:47] Speaker 4: Through November into December, it was not getting better and
[4:52] Speaker 4: into the holidays.
[4:53] Speaker 2: And you knew she was on medication at that point?
[4:55] Speaker 4: Yes.
[4:56] Speaker 2: You knew she was seeing doctors at that point?
[4:58] Speaker 5: Yes.
[4:59] Speaker 2: So tell us, is there an incident that came to
[5:01] Speaker 2: your mind that you recall that occurred on one evening
[5:05] Speaker 2: that indicated to you how seriously she was suffering?
[5:13] Speaker 6: There were many.
[5:14] Speaker 4: One particular evening that was disturbing to me was that
[5:21] Speaker 4: she was afraid, she was afraid to be alone, and
[5:26] Speaker 4: she actually asked if she.
[5:27] Speaker 6: Could sleep with me.
[5:28] Speaker 2: When was that?
[5:29] Speaker 4: That was late November, early December.
[5:33] Speaker 2: And did she indeed sleep with you on that occasion?
[5:36] Speaker 7: She did.
[5:37] Speaker 1: In mid-December, Paula testified that Lindsay told her and Patrick
[5:42] Speaker 1: together that she'd been having thoughts about harming the children.
[5:46] Speaker 4: I believe I remember Pat asking her if she felt
[5:49] Speaker 4: like she couldn't be alone with the children and she
[5:51] Speaker 4: said no.
[5:53] Speaker 8: And after she made those statements, did you have any
[5:58] Speaker 8: thoughts about committing her?
[5:59] Speaker 2: No.
[6:02] Speaker 8: Did you have any thoughts about having her come stay
[6:05] Speaker 8: with you in Connecticut away from the children?
[6:08] Speaker 4: No.
[6:09] Speaker 3: This was some of Lindsay's mother-in-law, Susan Clancy's testimony.
[6:13] Speaker 6: She was very nurturing, very loving.
[6:15] Speaker 7: She was a wonderful mother.
[6:17] Speaker 8: Wonderful.
[6:17] Speaker 2: Did you ever see her treat her middle son, Dawson,
[6:22] Speaker 2: bad because he didn't like him?
[6:24] Speaker 8: No.
[6:25] Speaker 2: Did she love Dawson in your opinion?
[6:26] Speaker 3: She loved her children, all of them, very, very much.
[6:30] Speaker 2: Did you find that Lindsay was interested at all times?
[6:34] Speaker 2: She was begging for help.
[6:36] Speaker 7: Over the course of the four months leading up to
[6:41] Speaker 7: the killings, Lindsay was prescribed 13 different medications across at
[6:46] Speaker 7: least three providers.
[6:59] Speaker 1: She went to the ER for suicidal thoughts, called a
[7:01] Speaker 1: suicide hotline and spent five days in inpatient psychiatric care.
[7:07] Speaker 1: She was never diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, a condition that
[7:11] Speaker 1: affects one to two mums in every 1,000 births. She
[7:15] Speaker 1: was instead monitored for bipolar disorder. Psychiatrist Dr Donald Condie
[7:20] Speaker 1: was called by the defence to assess Lindsay's treatment. This
[7:24] Speaker 1: is what he had to say about the records he
[7:26] Speaker 1: reviewed from one of her main providers.
[7:29] Speaker 9: They are somewhat sparse, and there are many checkboxes in
[7:36] Speaker 9: the records, but not a great deal of sentences that
[7:44] Speaker 9: describe what was done during sessions.
[7:49] Speaker 1: Psychologist Dr. Paul Zeisel gave some of the strongest expert
[7:53] Speaker 1: evidence to support the defence. He met Lindsay in the
[7:56] Speaker 1: days after the killings and has remained a part of
[7:58] Speaker 1: her care team.
[8:00] Speaker 3: He said this about psychosis.
[8:02] Speaker 10: Psychosis is what's considered a major mental health disorder. It's
[8:07] Speaker 10: when people have disorganized thinking and the symptoms most typically
[8:13] Speaker 10: are hallucinations.
[8:15] Speaker 2: And you tell us, is a person, even if they
[8:18] Speaker 2: are in the throes of psychosis, are they able to
[8:21] Speaker 2: make a phone call?
[8:23] Speaker 8: Yes, they can.
[8:24] Speaker 2: Are they able to drive a car?
[8:25] Speaker 6: Yes.
[8:26] Speaker 2: Are they able to say, hey, Hawaii, I'd like to
[8:27] Speaker 2: have a hot dog? Yes.
[8:29] Speaker 1: He described that someone with psychosis has intermittent symptoms. They
[8:34] Speaker 1: can function fine one day and the next day can
[8:37] Speaker 1: be hearing voices.
[8:38] Speaker 10: But she had bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis. In addition,
[8:44] Speaker 10: she was unable to conform her behaviours to the rule
[8:47] Speaker 10: of law and she had no appreciation for the wrongfulness
[8:51] Speaker 10: of her act.
[8:52] Speaker 1: In cross-examination, the prosecution questioned whether he could be objective
[8:56] Speaker 1: about her diagnosis when he was both seeing her as
[8:59] Speaker 1: a patient and working with the defence. Forensic psychiatrist Dr
[9:04] Speaker 1: Philip Resnick also testified that Lindsay was experiencing postpartum psychosis
[9:09] Speaker 1: and command hallucinations.
[9:11] Speaker 6: Not only did she hear a command, but she felt
[9:15] Speaker 6: that her body was taken over by an external force
[9:20] Speaker 6: where she was in a green state and did not
[9:24] Speaker 6: have control of her own body. It was almost like
[9:29] Speaker 6: she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings.
[9:32] Speaker 1: Chaplain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Sheila Kavanagh, told
[9:36] Speaker 1: the court what Lindsay told her about the voice that
[9:39] Speaker 1: told her to kill her kids.
[9:41] Speaker 6: Told her that if she did not follow the command,
[9:44] Speaker 6: neither she nor her children would be safe.
[9:48] Speaker 1: Of the three medical experts called to rebut the defense
[9:51] Speaker 1: expert's testimony, evidence given by FBI psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Sarthoff
[9:56] Speaker 1: was the most damning. He testified that he didn't believe
[10:00] Speaker 1: Lindsay heard a voice ordering her to kill her children.
[10:03] Speaker 5: It was important. in order to carry this out, as
[10:07] Speaker 5: well as her suicide, to do this quickly, methodically, and
[10:13] Speaker 5: the like. And so this is having no instructions as
[10:19] Speaker 5: to how to do it, but being able to execute
[10:22] Speaker 5: those decisions, including being able to get a phone call
[10:27] Speaker 5: and then return it to her husband in the process
[10:31] Speaker 5: of all of this. Certainly the phone call was not expected.
[10:35] Speaker 5: that is surprising that she was able to accomplish all
[10:40] Speaker 5: of this without any other kind of direction or plan.
[10:46] Speaker 1: He also questioned Lindsay's claim that the voice stopped after
[10:50] Speaker 1: the children were killed. He testified that committing the act
[10:54] Speaker 1: is not curative of the voice, and he'd never seen
[10:57] Speaker 1: that happen. In closing arguments... The jurors were visibly emotional
[11:02] Speaker 1: as both the defence and prosecution closed out their cases.
[11:06] Speaker 8: She left them discarded on the basement floor like broken
[11:12] Speaker 8: toys because she was done.
[11:14] Speaker 6: Playing the game.
[11:16] Speaker 3: You know to a moral certainty.
[11:19] Speaker 8: She is guilty.
[11:20] Speaker 2: How does this turn into.
[11:31] Speaker 5: How?
[11:33] Speaker 2: Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care
[11:37] Speaker 2: that she got.
[11:39] Speaker 1: On the next episode of our Lindsay Clancy miniseries, we're
[11:42] Speaker 1: going to unpack the verdict, when that comes.
[11:45] Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to True Crime Conversations.
[11:47] Speaker 1: Tomorrow you'll find a normal episode of our show in
[11:50] Speaker 1: your feed, as you do every Thursday.
[11:52] Speaker 3: We'll see you there.

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