Jury deliberates in trial of Lindsay Clancy, US mother accused of killing her children

The fate of Lindsay Clancy now rests with a Massachusetts jury, which must decide whether she is guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children, aged between eight months and five years. The trial has gripped the country for five weeks.

What the jury must decide

Clancy does not deny killing her children by strangling them with exercise bands at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She then attempted to take her own life by jumping from a window and has attended the trial in a wheelchair due to the injuries she sustained.

The defence argues she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time and could not distinguish right from wrong. The prosecution contends she made a calculated decision to intentionally kill her children and was aware of her actions.

Possible verdicts

The jury could find Clancy guilty of first-degree murder — which carries a mandatory life sentence without parole in Massachusetts — or of lesser charges such as second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would be sent to a psychiatric facility rather than prison.

Closing arguments on Thursday were heated: defence attorney Kevin Reddington told the jury the prosecution could not prove she knew what she was doing, while prosecutor Jennifer Sprague countered that Clancy could tell right from wrong despite her illness.