Taylor’s Takes: It’s disgusting that Lindsay Clancy even has a defense
I have no sympathy for a mother who killed her three children, and neither should you.
The mere fact that Lindsay Clancy is staging a defense after killing her three children is staggering.
The Duxbury, MA woman methodically strangled each of her three children with an exercise band in January 2023 and then attempted to take her own life by leaping from a second-story window. She is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Hearing the details of this story three years ago should have sent shivers down your spine, especially if you are a parent who can recall when your children were young, innocent, and full of potential.
My son was not yet three years old, and we were expecting our second child later that year when Lindsay Clancy gained infamy. I’m now father to three children, who span in age from just about six years old to a mere 11 months. I choked up at discussing the story then, and I choke up discussing it now.
I can’t imagine a greater horror as a husband and father. Coming home after thinking your wife had turned a corner and was showing signs of improvement in her battle with post-partum depression, and finding that she had slain the three children that you had poured your life into, and finding she had tried to end her own life, as well.
Nobody would characterize me as a sympathetic man. But any sympathy that I can muster extends to Patrick Clancy, the father of the deceased children and ex-husband to Lindsay.
Earlier this week, Patrick’s 9-1-1 call on that January day was played for courtroom ears only. The judge decided the call was too traumatic for public release. I’d like to extend my thanks to him for that wise decision.
I’ve read summaries of the call from reporters who heard it replayed. Just the mere description of the emergency call is enough to make a grown man drop to his knees and wish for death, knowing that level of personal tragedy does indeed exist.
Lindsay Clancy’s defense does not deny that she killed her children. But her defense is arguing that it was not her fault.
Clancy, through her attorney Kevin Reddington, is blaming the Massachusetts medical infrastructure for their failure to communicate with each other about how Clancy was being treated by multiple doctors for her postpartum depression.
I’m not going to pretend to know all of the ins and outs of this case. For reasons stated above, I’ve kept my distance from the day-to-day details of the trial.
I do know two things:
- Post-partum depression is real and can take a devastating toll on families.
- It is incredibly easy to manipulate the medical system in Massachusetts
I believe that Clancy’s battle with PPD was all too real. But I also believe, from the facts that I’ve read, that she never stuck with one doctor or psychiatrist long enough to find a balance of medications that quieted the symptoms. And whether intentional or not, she ultimately abused the system.
To stage a defense against the killing of your own children is, to me, abhorrent. I don’t care how many voices are screaming in your head to do so; brutally slaughtering your own kids requires at least some level of intentionality and free will.
If Lindsay were truly sorry for her actions, she would accept full responsibility for them in her criminal trial. A loving parent, who had come to realize and understand what they had done, would wish nothing but death upon themselves.
The medical institutions in Massachusetts are not charged with the crime, and Clancy should not be diverting the trial to aim at them. That’s a matter for the civil courts, where Patrick Clancy has already filed suit against Lindsay’s numerous healthcare providers.
I hope the jury relies strictly on facts, not emotion, and decides to place Lindsay Clancy in prison for the rest of her natural life.
