I can’t keep quiet on this one. Watching this trial, not religiously, but enough to understand. Reading daily articles in the Times and other news sources, watching the local and national news cover her trial. I feel I have observed enough to have an educated opinion and here goes…
Lindsey Clancy may likely get away with her crimes, not because her defense proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she met the burden of proof regarding the legal definition of insanity at the time she murdered her three children but because the prosecution did not present a strong enough case against her. The prosecution failed to substantially answer the WHY question critical to a guilty verdict; if Mrs. Clancy did not have a psychotic break in reality, what was her motive for committing these crimes? While there was dabbling and throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks weaved throughout the trial, the prosecution dropped the ball in establishing a consistent story that makes sense to the savvy observer.
Specifically, let’s think about two specific sets of witnesses, testimonies and evidence. Paramount, the first responders who were the initial parties to the scene of Mrs. Clancy’s (possible) attempted suicide. Several testified that the cuts on Mrs. Clancy’s wrists were very shallow, hardly even to the point of drawing blood let alone deep enough to sever major blood vessels causing her immediate death. Clearly the conclusion one draws from the direction of these testimonies is Mrs. Clancy faked her suicide attempt.
This was my initial conclusion, without knowing anything else about the case, other than, after Mrs. Clancy murdered her three babies, she then “attempted” suicide. I thought, yeah right, oldest trick in the book for getting away with murder – you have to be injured yourself for anyone to believe or at the least, feel sorry enough for you to justify a not guilty verdict.
Now, don’t get me wrong, if the prosecutors had stuck with this story and continued to present witnesses and evidence that Mrs. Clancy, in fact, orchestrated a fake suicide attempt just to get away with murder, they would have (possibly) set themselves up for success regarding a solid conviction but, they, in fact, did a 180 with their case when they presented two expert psychiatric witnesses who testified to Mrs. Clancy’s very sane motive for murdering her children.
At the very end of the trial before closing arguments, it was the testimony of two expert witnesses, called by the prosecution, that Mrs. Clancy, in fact, told them she wanted to take her own life and felt her children were better off dead too rather than living without her. They believed and testified her motive was actually very sane and clearly pre-meditated. If this testimony is true, that would unequivocally justify prison time for Mrs. Clancy and a guilty verdict delivered by the jury.
However, let’s think about this. In early testimony the prosecutors led us to believe Mrs. Clancy’s suicide attempt was staged and thus she did not actually intend to take her own life. Yet, they rested their case claiming, yes, Mrs. Clancy was actually suicidal and fully intended to kill herself per her own admissions to not one, but two, experienced psychiatric professionals.
I’m sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. The prosecutions’ case does not add up. If she faked her suicide, she does not have a rational motive per the evidence and testimony presented. Thus, by default, since no other sane motive was presented such as witnesses testifying Mrs. Clancy secretly hated her children and was a horrible and abusive mother, or Mrs. Clancy’s husband was, in fact, a cheating philanderer and their marriage was on the rocks thus she killed her kids because she wanted revenge against him. I felt the prosecutor did give little hints that Mrs. Clancy was truly unhappy with her life and wanted to be free but no witnesses nor evidence that I am aware of confirmed this and in fact, all we saw was the opposite, Mrs. Clancy smiling in family pictures, witnesses testifying to how much Mrs. Clancy loved her children and what a great mom she was… Thus, the only motive left is the one the defense has presented – Mrs. Clancy was legally insane and simply snapped at the time she murdered her three children.
I will give the prosecutor credit where it is due, she redeemed herself in her closing argument. She described, in detail, the murder of those innocent children, the obvious and extreme cruelty required to accomplish the crime. The conscious separation of her middle child from the other two before his death because he was more likely to fight back against his murderous mother. The obscene cruelty, leaving their lifeless bodies face down on the cold basement floor with the murder weapons – exercise bands – still tied around their little necks… Will this be enough for a prison sentence granted to Mrs. Clancy, one can only hope.
Do I believe Mrs. Clancy is a martyr for all women suffering from postpartum separation from her baby – NO. Do I believe she has opened up a much-needed conversation regarding mental health that unfortunately many women, mostly with means and a support system far inferior to Mrs. Clancy’s unfortunately suffer – NO. Do I believe women should come out, dressed in pink shirts, in support of a woman who murdered her three innocent babies in the cruelest fashion simply because they both may have suffered postpartum issues after the birth of their children, yet no one presumably cared about her struggle – NO.
Lindsey Clancy is not a feminist hero and in fact, she is the anti-hero. She had financial means to afford an in-patient psychiatric facility, she had professional support, she had a strong network of emotional support from her family, she had plenty of psychiatric medications prescribed to her that would have effectively eliminated the symptoms of any psychiatric ailment she was allegedly suffering – all at the time she committed her heinous crimes.
Most women suffering from mental illness do not have even a fraction of the resources Mrs. Clancy had available to her thus there is no reasonable and rational justification for her crimes, in my opinion. Not to mention, she was a labor and delivery nurse by trade thus she had daily experiences with women suffering from postpartum ailments making it that much easier compared to the average gal, for her to recognize the symptoms and attain effective help for herself before accomplishing the unthinkable.
I invite women to be more critical with her praise and look to actual female heroes that exist in abundance in our society. The one’s who overcome adversity and do the right thing even when it’s hard. The ones who are mentally and emotionally strong, the battle axes. The women who have the courage to dedicate her career to the pursuit of bettering circumstances for all women, the single mothers who struggle in every way to provide the best life possible for her children. There are female heroes all around you. I would invite you to show up and support her.