Testimony Concludes in Massachusetts Murder Trial, Closing Arguments Scheduled for Thursday

Jurors in Plymouth Superior Court have finished hearing testimony in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial after listening to 85 witnesses. Prosecutors rested Wednesday afternoon following three rebuttal witnesses, and the case now proceeds to closing arguments, expected on Thursday.

The final witness, Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a forensic psychiatrist and emergency-medicine professor who has consulted for the FBI, completed his testimony at about 1 p.m. He had interviewed Clancy in May and June of this year and discussed the voice she said compelled her to kill her children. Saathoff noted inconsistencies in her account and said the voice stopped after the killings, which he interpreted as an indication of her control over the actions.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington highlighted that Saathoff did not interview Clancy until more than three years after the murders and questioned his expertise on postpartum mental health. He also challenged Saathoff’s description of crushed pills found in a wine tumbler, asking how the substances could be identified as medication.

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked whether the voice directed Clancy on how to commit the killings; Saathoff responded that it did not, suggesting she retained decision-making capacity. He described her suicide attempt as serious despite the shallow cuts and said she was overmedicated but still capable of distinguishing right from wrong. Saathoff concluded that, in his medical opinion, Clancy was criminally responsible, citing planning evident in the sequence of events leading to the murders.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder for the strangulation deaths of her three children in January 2023. If convicted, she faces life imprisonment without parole; a finding of non-responsibility would result in commitment to a state psychiatric hospital.