The tragic Lindsay Clancy trial has received a lot of attention, sparking a myriad of opinions about postpartum depression, psychosis, and the effects it can have on women and their partners. On January 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy fatally strangled her three children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan—at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She then attempted suicide by cutting her wrists and neck and jumping from a second-story window, sustaining injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Lindsay later said she heard an auditory hallucination commanding her to commit the acts and felt unable to resist.
Lindsay was prosecuted for three counts of murder in a criminal trial that began on July 20, 2026. Although she did not dispute killing her children, her defense argued that she had been suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder and therefore lacked criminal responsibility. Much of the trial focused on her mental health in the months before the deaths, during which she sought treatment from multiple healthcare providers for symptoms including insomnia, intrusive thoughts, and suicidal ideation. Prosecutors alleged that Lindsay was mentally aware at the time of the killings and that her actions beforehand, including sending her husband out on an errand, demonstrated methodical planning. They emphasized that she reported hearing the commanding voice only on the day of the killings and that none of her clinicians had documented observing psychosis.
After nearly six weeks of trial proceedings and a week of jury deliberation, the jury reported a deadlock. The jury foreperson informed Judge William F. Sullivan that a single holdout juror might be disregarding his instructions on reasonable doubt. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington filed an emergency appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court requesting that the juror be questioned or removed. After the motion was denied, Sullivan formally declared a mistrial on September 4. The next hearing is scheduled for September 29.
Postpartum depression(PPD), which is the most common complication of childbirth, is a mood disorder that may develop after childbirth and persist or worsen if not treated. PPD can range in severity; some women may doubt their abilities to care for their infant or withdraw from family and friends, while other women may have thoughts of harming themselves or their infant. Many people on social media debated whether postpartum is a viable excuse or whether she should face the full punishment.
One social media user posted, “Mental illness deserves compassion and understanding, but so do the innocent victims whose lives were taken.” Another user posted, “If Lindsay Clancy had killed your children instead of her own, would you still defend her actions because of her mental illness, or would you be demanding justice?” The X post reads.
Lindsay Clancy’s trial has raised questions and conversations about motherhood, accountability, social media, and postpartum psychosis, which psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz says affects 1 to 2 women out of 1,000.
While the internet was divided on the matter, society added fuel to the fire as several pre-existing cases involving mothers abusing their children garnered national attention, and new child abuse cases involving mothers who used psychosis or postpartum as their defensean excuse for the assault.
On Aug. 24, a judge in New York found Dimone Fleming, 26, not responsible by mental disease or defect in the 2022 killings of her two children, according to The New York Times and WABC.
Fleming was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Daishawn, 3, and Octavius, 11 months. They were found fatally stabbed and submerged in a bathtub full of water at a family shelter in the Bronx in November 2022, according to reports.
In North Carolina, Andrea Faust, 41, was charged with murder in the killing of her 3-year-old son and the attempted murder of her 23-month-old son in February, according to court documents.
On Aug. 18, Faust’s capital defender, Nicole Galinsky, filed a notice in Durham County Superior Court indicating she intends to use defenses of not guilty by reason of insanity and diminished capacity.
A July 29 report from Dr. Adrienne Saxton said Faust was “laboring under a defect of reason from disease of the mind,” and therefore “incapable of distinguishing right and wrong in relation to her acts.”
Kailey Erhart, 22, faces two murder charges and an attempted-murder charge stemming from an August 6 attack. Investigators say a video recovered from the children’s father’s phone captured her telling him, “Say goodbye to your kids.” She fatally stabbed her five-month-old and a three-year-old, but their one-year-old Colton survived surgery, and his family later shared a hopeful update on his recovery.
The father told investigators he had previously alerted mental health services that Erhart had threatened to harm herself and the children. The affidavit notes that Child Protective Services also knew about the threats.
Erhart had been committed to a mental health facility within the preceding 12 to 18 months. According to the affidavit, she was taking medication and had been cleared to be with the children. Investigators also described video showing Erhart carrying a child while holding a pistol at her hip. The reported warning to the father came during that recording. The father said he took the handgun away from Erhart, disassembled it, and scattered its pieces inside the home.
Another layer to the Clancy case and postpartum depression is the intersection of racism and negligence in the medical and legal fields, as a few years prior, Judge Sullivan had a very similar case but took a different approach. In 2022, Latarsha Sanders stood before Judge Sullivan as he sentenced her to life in prison for murdering both her sons, Edson “Marlon” Brito, 8, and La’Son Brito, 5, at their Brockton home in 2018. In this case, Sullivan blocked jurors from seeing Sanders’ medical records, which showcased evidence of hallucinations and paranoia, and Sanders was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2018 following her arrest. This is a stark contrast to the Clancy case, as he allowed jurors to see her medical records and allowed her to plead insanity with postpartum as the reason, while he didn’t let Sanders use the same reasoning in her plea. During the trial, it was proven that Clancy was never diagnosed with any mental illness, including postpartum. Once the spotlight shone on Sanders’ case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court vacated the 2022 conviction of Sanders, but has not scheduled a new court date.
Black women deal with postpartum depression at a higherer rate, with less screening compared to their counterparts. Studies show that Black mothers are 1.6 times more likely to experience postpartum depression and often encounter cultural stigma, healthcare inequities, and financial barriers that prevent them from receiving timely support. According to a Columbia University survey, Black mothers are 46 percent less likely to be screened for postpartum depression. Fewer than 37 percent received treatment for maternal mental health issues compared to 67 percent of white women. Without early diagnosis, symptoms worsen, leaving many women to navigate grief and emotional pain alone.
