Lindsay clancy trial

[Widowwith2]

Has anyone else been following the lindsay clancy trial? What is everyone thinkin? I dont think she done it

I actually don’t know at what time the officer looked in the window seeing him with Dawson so I can’t say if that means he found him first.
The timeline is too confusing to me. But the first responders did testify that while they were with Lindsay they heard screams and started running to the house where they found PC with Dawson, but how did he have enough time to find Cora and Callan first untie the bands etc then go looking for Dawson before finding him and untying the band and that’s when the first responders came in?
But in another account he found Dawson first ?

But he was found sitting on the sofa with Cora face down. According to PC he had given Cora cpr. Did he give cpr to the back of her head or did he turn her back round and sit on the sofa.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/07/lindsay-clancy-case-rorschach-test

This pretty much aligns with my views on this case so far.

But according to notes that the forewoman of the jury sent to the judge, one juror, a man, expressed “reasonable doubt” about Clancy’s culpability under the law, but refused to apply that doubt as is legally required.

...and according to the judge and the appeal judge the juror acted properly.

Clancy reported that she had begun to hallucinate. She kept seeking help, saying that she was thinking of killing herself; she told both her mother and her husband that she feared she would harm her children

So she understood killing her kids was wrong and therefore fails the M'Naghten rule.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts doesn't use the stricter McNaughton rule.

It uses the McHoul standard.

The legal test in Massachusetts is mental disease or defect and

A) unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions

OR

B) unable to conform their behaviour to the law.

Well she fails B obviously because she was perfectly able to resist murdering her kids until her husband went out (at her request). No problem conforming with the law at all.

"That this lone juror who wanted to convict Clancy was male is relevant, because the Clancy case itself became, in the distorting ways that such stories tend to when they are witnessed en masse through social media, a referendum on motherhood, mental healthcare, and the status of women."

What are your thoughts on this paragraph @DannyDeever ?

I can't go into too much detail but in my (close) experience auditory hallucinations telling you to cause harm to yourself or others also tell you how not to be interrupted because they come from yourself and use your own logic. People who commit suicide will almost always lock the bathroom door.

Except Lindsay Clancy had plenty of opportunities to kill her children previous to that day. More time to do it, and most importantly make sure she killed herself without her then husband Patrick Clancy coming back to witness it minutes after - he was less than an hour gone from the house, maximum time of 50 minutes on the day it happened.

The test is about whether a mental illness deprived a person of the ability to obey the law at the time of the offence, it's not about whether they were able to act normal when others were around or act in a way that gave them more of a chance of getting to commit the crime they feel compelled to commit.

The test is about whether a mental illness deprived a person of the ability to obey the law at the time of the offence, it's not about whether they were able to act normal when others were around or act in a way that gave them more of a chance of getting to commit the crime they feel compelled to commit.

Try as I might, I can't see how someone can meet the first clause whilst doing the second clause.

It seems that most of the jury could.

So do you agree with the lone juror who despite having doubts, decided guilty?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5565097-lindsay-clancy-trial?reply=154550746&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

Constance Fisher killed her three children, was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She got back with her husband, had three more children and then she killed them, too.

The point of a trial is justice for three innocent children who had their lives stolen from them. Can you imagine their terror as she squeezed the life out of them?

The trial is to protect the accused. She's fit to stand trial, so this is her chance to clear herself. What would people prefer, she was locked up without a trial?

It looks highly likely she'll be NGRI in the next trial (or another mistrial), so if people think she's innocent due to meeting the McHoul standard a trial is still the right course of action.

Do we know what happens if there is another mistrial?

Acquittal due to the McHoul standard does not imply innocence.

At some point they give up. You it's not double jeopardy but equally they can't have, like, nine trials.

How so?

It's not her 'chance to clear herself' - the presumption is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt... not guilty and having to prove your innocence and clear your name. No wonder the justice system is so shit when people can't understand that

You selected a few words from the middle of the sentence.

Her conviction was quashed in 2003.

Incidentally, does anyone know what would happen if someone with disabilities like LC's were found guilty of murder and sentenced to significant jail time/life sentence? I've never seen anyone with a significant disability on a jail documentary or tv drama (I know dramas aren't exactly the best source of knowledge but there is little else to go on). Would they live on a separate wing with other severely disabled inmates? I'd imagine they'd be incredibly vulnerable living among the general population - even more so than an able-bodied person convicted of child murder or abuse. Not saying I think she should be found guilty - I think there's reasonable doubt as to her state of mind at the time of the crime but I do wonder how they cope with serious disability in jails.

I don’t understand how people can think LC was not guilty by reason of insanity when there is no evidence of her ever having psychosis, except after the fact.

Severe depression and anxiety are things you frequently see in people with personality disorders and I think that’s what is going on with LC. I hope to God she has no more children.