Sep 8, 2026 · 1 hr 27 min · 13 segments
Matt Cox and Johnny Mitchell break down the Lindsay Clancy case, the controversial insanity defense, and how a divided jury led to an outcome that left the country debating whether the system got it…
Matthew CoxHostJohnny MitchellHostWell... again i i actually screenshot i did a little bit of prep work believe it or not for this episode and i screenshotted uh what the burden of proof was for the state in massachusetts to to come up with a guilty verdict based on reasonable doubt and the reasonable doubt in this case was uh that she had that she not only was responsible for her actions but that she had a Let me read this off.
Did she have criminal responsibility? Both sides acknowledge, obviously, she killed the kids, but that she was having a psychotic episode.
That's... not in question was she criminally responsible and massachusetts defined it defines that as such criminal responsibility doesn't ask whether lindsey knew she was killing her children and asked whether because of mental disease she still had enough capacity to appreciate that she was doing wrong what she was doing was wrong and enough capacity to control her behavior according to the law so it's weird they kind of invoke the law kind of evokes a moral judgment like could she did she know what she was doing was wrong was she having a psychotic episode and could she have stopped herself anyways so and according to what i could dig up the the state of massachusetts specifically if you plead if you invoke an insanity defense the bar for the prosecution is actually pretty high for you to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no, in fact, she wasn't, not only was she not in a right mind, but she knew morally it was wrong and she could stop the demons for making her do that.
yeah, it's up to the the prosecution to actually prove that that she was saying instead of them having to prove she was insane, they have to prove not only, of course, not only that she committed a crime, but she she she knew better and she was saying to do it like it's weird because that's not how it is in most states.
the time they have to prove she's we don't have to prove right just that she did the crime you have to prove to the jury that she was out of her mind at that time in in in massachusetts they had the prosecution has to prove hey no no she was definitely within her mind like it's it's a tough sell
well well the you always the state always has the burden of proof again it's not just they have to prove she was out of her mind that's not a question it was with these specific factors did she know it was morally wrong and was she unable to stop herself so it's very kind of uh uh it's very opaque it's kind of vague and to me this is the problem with insanity laws this is kind of an indictment of the insanity defense laws in states like massachusetts like it's too hard you're making it and i never say this but you're making it too hard for the prosecution
well let's let's go you want to go through first like what exactly how do we get here who she was right like who is she who was the husband you know they had three kids so you want to go
yeah absolutely so lindsey clancy uh was 32 years old at the time of the killings i believe um uh this is in a small town in massachusetts and she's married with three kids she works in a hospital as a delivery nurse
so she's given birth to babies all day every day for a living try that irony on and she's married to this guy patrick clancy
can i mention something real quick also on all of her pregnancies she's suffered from uh postpartum depression So all of them, she's had this multiple times, obviously not to this degree, but to a degree, first one, second one.
yeah colin is the baby so right so so it's married to patrick clancy um yes she has bouts of depression with postpartum depression but that's exactly what postpartum depression is a lot of women have that most women have it i get it you're fat it's okay baby uh you'll work it off so i get it you're no longer the center of attention all right but postpartum psychosis
Well... again i i actually screenshot i did a little bit of prep work believe it or not for this episode and i screenshotted uh what the burden of proof was for the state in massachusetts to to come up with a guilty verdict based on reasonable doubt and the reasonable doubt in this case was uh that she had that she not only was responsible for her actions but that she had a Let me read this off.
Did she have criminal responsibility? Both sides acknowledge, obviously, she killed the kids, but that she was having a psychotic episode.
That's... not in question was she criminally responsible and massachusetts defined it defines that as such criminal responsibility doesn't ask whether lindsey knew she was killing her children and asked whether because of mental disease she still had enough capacity to appreciate that she was doing wrong what she was doing was wrong and enough capacity to control her behavior according to the law so it's weird they kind of invoke the law kind of evokes a moral judgment like could she did she know what she was doing was wrong was she having a psychotic episode and could she have stopped herself anyways so and according to what i could dig up the the state of massachusetts specifically if you plead if you invoke an insanity defense the bar for the prosecution is actually pretty high for you to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no, in fact, she wasn't, not only was she not in a right mind, but she knew morally it was wrong and she could stop the demons for making her do that.
yeah, it's up to the the prosecution to actually prove that that she was saying instead of them having to prove she was insane, they have to prove not only, of course, not only that she committed a crime, but she she she knew better and she was saying to do it like it's weird because that's not how it is in most states.
the time they have to prove she's we don't have to prove right just that she did the crime you have to prove to the jury that she was out of her mind at that time in in in massachusetts they had the prosecution has to prove hey no no she was definitely within her mind like it's it's a tough sell
well well the you always the state always has the burden of proof again it's not just they have to prove she was out of her mind that's not a question it was with these specific factors did she know it was morally wrong and was she unable to stop herself so it's very kind of uh uh it's very opaque it's kind of vague and to me this is the problem with insanity laws this is kind of an indictment of the insanity defense laws in states like massachusetts like it's too hard you're making it and i never say this but you're making it too hard for the prosecution
well let's let's go you want to go through first like what exactly how do we get here who she was right like who is she who was the husband you know they had three kids so you want to go
yeah absolutely so lindsey clancy uh was 32 years old at the time of the killings i believe um uh this is in a small town in massachusetts and she's married with three kids she works in a hospital as a delivery nurse
so she's given birth to babies all day every day for a living try that irony on and she's married to this guy patrick clancy
can i mention something real quick also on all of her pregnancies she's suffered from uh postpartum depression So all of them, she's had this multiple times, obviously not to this degree, but to a degree, first one, second one.
yeah colin is the baby so right so so it's married to patrick clancy um yes she has bouts of depression with postpartum depression but that's exactly what postpartum depression is a lot of women have that most women have it i get it you're fat it's okay baby uh you'll work it off so i get it you're no longer the center of attention all right but postpartum psychosis
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