Lindsay Clancy, the woman who is accused of killing her three young children in Duxbury, Massachusetts, was 'overmedicated' on a variety of prescription drugs at the time of the horrific incident, according to her attorney.
“One of the major issues here is the horrific overmedication of drugs that caused homicidal ideation, suicidal ideation,” Clancy's lawyer Kevin J. Reddington told The Boston Globe on Thursday, February 2.
“They [Lindsay and her husband Patrick] went to doctors repeatedly saying ‘Please help us,'" Reddington said.
"This was turning her into a zombie ...the medications that were prescribed were over the top, absolutely over the top.”
Lindsay Clancy’s parents were aware of her struggles, Reddington said, and a week before the deaths of the three children, Lindsay's husband Patrick asked a doctor treating Lindsay for help managing her medications.
Clancy did not misuse her prescribed medication, he added. Reddington said he intends to ask her doctors to speak with him about her care.
“She had medical care and treatment on a regular basis," Reddington said. "And her husband was very proactive in trying to protect her and help her with the doctors’ medication she was prescribed.
“They went through hell — and they didn’t come back.”
Police believe Lindsay Clancy, 32, seriously injured her three children - Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months - before attempting suicide by jumping from a window of the family's home on the evening of January 24.
Lindsay's husband and father of the children, Patrick Clancy, was reportedly out for about 20 minutes picking up food when the tragedy unfolded. He called 911 within minutes of returning home, Reddington told the Boston Globe.
“He loved her,” Reddington said. “He knew she was a great mother, a fantastic person.”
Cora and Dawson were transported to a hospital that night where they were both pronounced dead, while Callan was hospitalized before being pronounced dead later on January 27.
The day after the incident, an arrest warrant was issued for Lindsay Clancy for two counts of homicide, three counts of strangulation, and assault and battery with a deadly weapon. The charges are reportedly expected to be upgraded in light of Callan's death.
Patrick Clancy has asked the public to forgive his wife, who remains in the ICU and is set to be arraigned via video on Tuesday, February 7.
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Reddington said he has received permission from Judge John A. Canavan III to waive law enforcement security rules at the hospital where Lindsay Clancy is a patient so she can be examined privately by a forensic psychologist.
“We’ve got a person who suffered grievously as a result of what possibly could be postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis,” Reddington said.
Reddington told the Boston Globe that a person whom experts conclude was overmedicated at the time of a crime can still invoke a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity
Clancy had been prescribed 13 psychiatric medications between October and January, Reddington said. He said that he is looking into the possibility that the prescription medications resulted in Clancy suffering from “involuntary intoxication.”
Reddington, who toured the Clancys' home in the aftermath of the tragedy, said: “It was just so apparent that their focus, their entire focus was on the kids.
“I mean, the kids literally dominated their entire house, every single room — who’s doing what, little handprints photographs, pictures — it was just overwhelming.”
Indeed, Clancy's social media profile shows a loving family; she had publicly shared pictures of her smiling children, including many where she was pictured hugging and kissing them. Some pictures show the children dressed up for St. Patrick's Day.
"So unbelievably thankful for this family and life," she captioned a picture of her, her husband, and her children in 2020.
A private funeral was held for the Clancy siblings on Friday.
*If you or somebody you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, you are encouraged to reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US by dialing 9-8-8 or Samaritans Ireland by dialing 1-1-6-1-2-3.
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