FBI psychiatrist says he does not believe Clancy's account of a voice
FBI psychiatrist Gregory Saatgoff, who testified as the prosecution's final witness at the trial of Lindsay Clancy in Plymouth, Massachusetts, said he does not believe her claim that a voice ordered her to kill her three children in 2023. As The Guardian reports, the expert also expressed the opinion that Clancy understood the difference between right and wrong at the time of the killings.
The psychiatrist's testimony
Clancy admitted that she killed her children — five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan — and also attempted suicide. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense argues that the woman was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings, exacerbated by undiagnosed bipolar disorder and a combination of anti-anxiety and sedative medications.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked Saatgoff whether he believed the voice could have told Clancy the location, method, instrument and sequence of the killings. The psychiatrist replied that, in his view, her ability to independently make and carry out such decisions without other instructions indicated control over the sequence of actions. He said that during the short time Clancy's husband was away from home, she acted quickly and methodically.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Saatgoff also drew attention to Clancy's actions on the day the children died: she visited a pediatrician, prepared lunch for the children and built a snowman with them. In his opinion, these activities demonstrated organization and control. He called Clancy's claim that the voice stopped after the killings unusual, as he had not encountered anything like this in his practice.
The defense's position
During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked Saatgoff about his experience working with postpartum psychosis. The psychiatrist said he had treated only two women with this condition — in the late 1980s and in the 1990s, when he worked at a state hospital. He agreed that the transition from postpartum depression to psychosis can be rapid, and that hormonal changes after childbirth can affect neurotransmitters and cause intrusive thoughts and difficult-to-control behavior.
About a month before the children's deaths, Clancy went to an emergency department, complaining of lack of sleep and a feeling of numbness. According to the publication, Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island did not admit her to its postpartum day-care program. The jury is expected to hear closing arguments, after which the court will instruct them and send them to deliberate on a verdict.
