Lindsay Clancy trial sparks debate over focus on slain children

A mother of six says that Lindsay Clancy’s three young victims have been forgotten amid the crowds rallying behind the woman who killed them, and is now on trial for murder.

Lindsay Clancy, 36, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan, all younger than 6 — who were discovered strangled at the family’s home in January 2023. The prosecution wrapped up its case Monday morning, after which her defense attorney began presenting arguments, contending that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time she killed her children.

Bethany Mandel, a conservative columnist and mother of six, said in an interview with Fox News Digital that she believes the three children killed by Lindsay Clancy, Cora, Dawson and Callan, have been cast aside in conversations about the case.

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“We all know her name,” Mandel said, referring to Lindsay Clancy. “Very few people know the names of her children.”

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Particularly, Mandel was disturbed by the hundreds of people who stood outside the Plymouth Superior Court on Thursday in support of Lindsay Clancy. Those who have gathered in pink say the show of support is not an endorsement of what happened, but a stand for maternal mental health awareness and for mothers suffering from postpartum conditions.

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“We don’t see any of them standing out there with a button with the three children’s faces on them. When you listen to interviews with all of the women who are standing out, they almost never mention the three child victims,” Mandel said.

A not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity would not result in Clancy’s release; instead, she would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital and subject to periodic reviews.

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Just days after Lindsay Clancy killed her kids in January 2023, Patrick wrote on a GoFundMe page, “I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have…The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone – me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients.”

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Jonathan Hatami, deputy district attorney in the complex child abuse section in the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney also agreed that much of the conversation has been surrounding how Lindsay Clancy has conducted herself during the trial, not on her children who were killed.

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“This shouldn’t be about the defendant even though it’s become that, it’s became this entire show about her, really should be about the victims and what the defendant did to those victims. And we try to do that in our trials and in our cases. And it seems like that’s gotten lost. In this specific case, and it’s really disappointing, and people don’t realize these children matter,” Hatami told Fox News Digital.

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“These children died,” he added.

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Expert witnesses called by both the defense and prosecution focused their Friday testimony on Lindsay Clancy’s mental state at the time she killed her children, specifically whether she was experiencing psychosis.

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Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and authority on filicide, said Lindsay Clancy was functioning for much of the day she killed her kids, even making a snowman with her children, until she suffered the hallucination and what he called a “delusion of influence,” feeling her body was taken over and out of her control and was feeling like a “puppet.”

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Dr. Avram Mack, a child and forensic psychiatrist, a prosecution expert, said Lindsay Clancy’s actions on the day her children died were methodical and organized, stating she should be found criminally responsible for their deaths, directly rebutting the defense.

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“My opinion is that she retained the capacity required for having criminal responsibility for these actions,” Mack testified.

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Closing arguments could begin as soon as Monday or Tuesday before jurors begin deliberating in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.