My Thoughts on the Lindsay Clancy Tragedy and Trial

0:00Welcome to the Carey Appet Show, your place for news, views and values you can trust, and relationship insights you need. Now here's Carey Appet. So good to be with you friends, and let me give you a warning on today's show. It's going to be difficult, adult material about the Lindsey Clancy case. What does it mean doesn't want to do the show? And I've mentioned this just a couple times in the past over many, many years. I'm usually pretty brave about what I have to tackle, but this one's really tough. And if you know anything about the story, you know why? So I'm going to go into the details, not too graphically, but I need to address this because we have a war of words happening between people online. We've got a lot of women wearing pink who say I am Lindsey Clancy, and I want to respond to those women first. No, you're not.

1:00No, you're not. You're a woman and you should care about other women. That's for sure. So let me address this issue from what I trust will be a biblical viewpoint also from a female viewpoint. And of course, as a mother and a grandmother and someone who cares about children, I have to weigh in a little bit here. So let me give you a summary. Lindsey Clancy, a 36 year old former labor and delivery nurse is accused of killing her three young children. Kora, she was five, Dawson, he was three and Callan, eight months. This happened on January 24, 2023 in Ducksbury, Massachusetts. She then attempted suicide by slashing her wrists and neck and jumping from a second story window leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Following the birth of Callan in May of 2022, Clancy's mental health deteriorated and she sought treatment from at least six different people, six clinicians. She was prescribed 14 medications and was hospitalized, but her symptoms worsened.

2:04The defense claim she suffered from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder, which allegedly caused her to hear a voice telling her to kill her children. Prosecutors Argers, she was in control over actions and that her behavior, including sending her husband out on an errand showed planning in advance. The trial began, the criminal trial began on July 20, 2026 in Plymouth County Superior Court. Clancy admitted to killing the children, but pleaded not guilty. Asserting that she lacked to criminal responsibility due to her mental illness. Prosecutors alleged premeditation and extreme atrocity while the defense focused on her untreated and poorly managed postpartum psychosis. So for those of you who didn't know the big picture, then there you have it. And after seven days of jury deliberation, the jury was deadlocked and the judge, William Sullivan declared a mistrial, unable to reach unanimous decision. And this case is spark national debate because everything sparks national debate, right?

3:06But this one in particular over maternal mental health, also the insanity defense and the limits of the legal system in handling such complex cases. And as a side note, both Clancy and her former husband have filed civil lawsuits against her former health care providers, alleging medical malpractice and negligence contributed to the deaths with the mistrial prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry or pursue other options. So in short, the case centers on whether Clancy severe postpartum mental illness prevented her from being criminally responsible for killing her children with both sides presenting conflicting accounts of her mental state. I will say something here about the mistrial. What Lindsey Clancy's attorney did on the courthouse steps was a warrant to many, Kevin Ruttington. And he, in fact, people in the know who know how this should work said he was unprofessional and graceless and all around insane. I wouldn't say that because I wouldn't call anybody insane unless they actually are.

4:10But he thanked the jury except the one. He said the rest of the body was great except they were robbed by one man, whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks from the lives of these other jurors. What a ridiculous thing to say Jonathan Turley, who is well, verse said his attack on the holdout juror in front of the courthouse was in my view, Jonathan Turley's an outrageous and reckless moment. It would warrant a response from the judge about stoking the rage against this one juror. And why is this important? We have a jury system for a reason and to, to ostracize one and put a target on his back. He's one of three men. The rest of our women is not a great idea, especially in the climate that we are living in right now. So other people have said this is sickening, listening to people talking to this lawyer about this lawyer. And yeah, I think this is really important for us to note. This is not the justice system that we want. And other people have said this was reckless and dangerous.

5:13And I agree with them. That should not have happened. And so if you see any of that, don't forward any of that kind of thing. I know none of you are involved in that kind of reckless behavior, but it does add up. It does become a problem. So I wanted to get into a little bit more of the details of the case, which are incredibly disturbing to me to even be thinking about. But I'm one of those people. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on air, but I used to want to be a lawyer. I grew up in a household. My father was a marine. My dad was always right. If you know what I'm saying. And so I grew up thinking of, I fear how to communicate and make my case. And I literally did want to be a lawyer until the Lord got hold of my aspirations and said, no, I'd like you to make a case for the gospel and for the family. And I said, I'm in, I'm in. But I like the details. I like to know what the facts are. And so I wanted just to mention a few of these things here. So we don't get lost in the storyline because the question is, was she criminally responsible

6:18for killing her three children? She admitted to killing them, but she doesn't want to take responsibility. I'm going to give away my position right up front. I think she is criminally responsible for killing her three children. And I think she suffered greatly from lack of health care, but you set that aside. And here's why I'm being very clear about it because if this were a man and he'd killed his three kids, you would not see women coming out wearing pink. You would see women saying he should go to jail and let me take you to jail for just a moment. Many people in jail, do you think were in their right mind when they committed the crimes they committed? How many and how many of them do you want to let out? Right. We don't want them out. Right. We have a justice system for people who are responsible. Now you might be thinking, I'm not caring about Lindsey. I actually am. I'm deeply disturbed by how she had to live and what was done in her, in her care.

7:25All of that makes sense to me. But the human soul is designed to take responsibility. We have a problem if we do something wrong and we do not have to take responsibility. And then the weight of that responsibility becomes a burden. We all know that burden. In fact, we, you know, sin leads to death. The only hope we all have is that Jesus Christ stepped in. He walked into the courtroom and said, I'll take it. The justification means it's justice if I never sinned. Jesus took it on himself, went to the cross and died for my sins. But that doesn't take away a design feature that we all have. And that is that we need to take responsibility for it. We have some part in us that says, no, I need the proper punishment. I need, I need, I committed a crime. I need a punishment so that I can, I cannot carry the shame anymore. I want to do the time. I want to replace the thing I broke. I want to fix the relationship. I harmed. I want to fix it with God's help so that I can live at peace.

8:27A mother who kills her children, whether she was under the influence of medication, whether she was in a psychosis, whether she was under demonic influence, which I will get to. She's still as a human being needs to take responsibility for it. Those three children never lived out their purpose and their design. Their father does not have his children. They were taken from him. The grandparents do not have their grandchildren. The neighbors and the kids friends do not have their friend because this mother, under whatever influence she was under, decided that she, instead of just taking her own life, which is a question I have, because every mother listening to me knows this, you would die for your children. Why would you, if you want to die yourself, would you take their life first? That's the part that is very twisted and very wrong and very criminal. I believe that she should answer to it for the sake of justice, for the sake of her own soul. There are people who are in prison who have harmed their children

9:29and they will say similar that, no, I want the punishment. Now, I'm not saying that Jesus' work on the cross does not cover our sins. It does, but she clearly needs to take responsibility and the people around her need to let her. And then they can walk her through to a place that is mentally better. She will not get there. If she does not have to own up to what she did. And that is how I feel. I'm going to go back into some details and strengthen that case a little bit here because the charges, just to remind you, it was strangulation or suffocation. And it was one count for each child. These charges reflect the alleged method of killing. And this is a prolonged and deliberate kind of killing. It's not just a homicide case, right? In this case, it's structured to support first three first degree murder theories and includes deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. The strangulation charges are especially important

10:31because the prosecutors were sitting, this was not instantaneous, but rather required sustained force and time. And that's what makes this so difficult for me to even go into it. Now, going back in time, there was a narrow calculated window of time, prosecutors emphasized that Lindsey Clancy created a specific window of opportunity. She asked her husband to take pick up take out and get medication. She checked Apple maps to estimate how long he'd be gone. He left at 515, returned at 6.09. According to the Commonwealth, this wasn't random. It was engineered. There's digital evidence of her movement and timing in the house. I won't go into all the details, but it shows that she moved deliberately between the floors. She remained upstairs after she killed her children. One of the prosecutors' strongest points is how she functioned during this time. She answered her husband's call calmly. She discussed medication in errands normally. She had earlier ordered food called the restaurant, provided correct details, her name or number, the order.

11:34And they saw that prosecutor does her thing. She showed no confusion or disorganization or distress. In other words, if there was a break of some sort, where is the emotional incapacity to manage even anything else going on? The weird thing, too, is that she's doing all of this and taking the life of her children. There's such a disconnect here. I'm not saying that she was healthy. I'm not saying she was normal. I believe she actually had demonic influence that was impacting her completely. The children were killed by strangulation. And that means it requires 10 pounds of pressure. Forgive me for having to go into this. The stained-force, even after they're unconscious, I don't know what the other kids were doing while she's killing one of them. It takes 10 seconds to a minute to render them unconscious. And then an additional four to five minutes of continued pressure to cause death. That would happen three times. I'm just so disturbed having to even bring this up. She had a lot of time and multiple opportunities to stop.

12:37Why didn't she stop? And the injury suggests prolonged force, particularly in Dawson's case. After the killings, prosecutors alleged that she went upstairs, inflicted superficial cuts to her wrists and neck, took an overdose of medication and exited through a window. Notably, bloody evidence suggests she lowered herself out rather than jumping. There was blood on the windows. Cell suggesting she slid down and then on the window. Cell suggests that she tried to grab them on the way down. So she tried to stop herself. Wow. And her own writing plays a major role here, according to prosecutors. Plansies, journal entries were clear, organized, and detailed, included medication, tracking, and daily functioning. There was no evidence in her writing of delusions or hallucinations or distorted thinking. She wrote about postpartum anxiety, not psychosis. She wrote about suicidal thoughts in December, but later denied them. We'll get back to that. And then she wrote a note about how she resented her children at times

13:40and she struggled to feel connected to them. Well, listen, that doesn't mean that other mothers haven't felt that way. Other mothers have felt disconnected. And being a mother is hard. But for those of you who think the one's wearing pink or holding the signs, we are Lindsey Clancy, please do not buy into that delusion. That is a lie. This is one mother. This doesn't mean that all mothers can do this. If every woman who's medicated gets an out because she's medicated, that would be one in four women in the United States who are taking some sort of antidepressant or something else. We are in trouble if we do not keep a justice system that says if you commit a crime, regardless of how you're feeling, regardless of the medication you're on or the drugs you're taking or the alcohol you had in your system before you got behind the wheel. If we don't hold people responsible, then what do we have? That is not justice. If we say, well, the feelings are important and then the drugs and their system are important.

14:42And then think of all the things that happen that are drug-induced that land people in prison. And we call that justice because we don't want them to act that way ever again or take that drug again or hurt somebody again. Our prisons are full of people, both men and women. And that's just a fact. So this case is people are trying to say, well, listen, she was mistreated by healthcare. Everybody raised your hand that is a little disappointed in the healthcare industry. That would be everybody. So I think it's an important issue. Having postpartum depression is a major issue for women that we do care about, that women are trying to help each other with and that good family members do the best they can to help. Mother's sisters, friends, family, anybody. And it's not something that women talk about openly. So I know one of the reasons this motivating people is they want to get this out there. More women need to talk. And you can feel that in their comments. They want people to have a conversation about this.

15:44I think that's really good. I think it's really important. But the trial, the case was about, she killed her three children methodically after planning, after looking up how to do it. She sent her husband away so that she could do it. Now who would do that? What woman in her, quote, right mind would kill her children? And this is where I believe demonic influence plays a role when people are vulnerable, whether it's because of drugs, whether it's because of mental illness. All of those things can be present. I'm going to say this again before we go to break. My position is that she should be found guilty of criminal responsibility for this. I also think she needs care, really good care. And I think part of that care is letting her take the weight of that criminal decision and own up to it so she can get actual peace. Because she did this and she knows she did this.

16:45And yet if there's no remedy for that, then her soul will not be at peace. And I still want to know why if she was not at peace and she had suicidal thoughts. Why kill your children? Why do that? It's very disturbing. The whole story is disturbing. None of us even want to talk about it. My producer and I were talking about this. We don't want to have to talk about this. But we must because we have a society now that is losing sight of truth and justice and what real freedom is. And of course, as a side note, we must discuss the mental health challenges that are taking place. I have more thoughts about this as you can imagine. I'll be back in just a moment. MUSIC Friends culture may change, but truth does not. Alliance defending freedom stands ready to protect every person's right to live and speak truth. Today we're facing an unprecedented challenge.

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18:47Does she seem confused about what the Bible teaches about male and female relationships, or is she being drawn into the lies from the culture? There is something you can do to help her. Introducing True Beauty, a powerful positive study that answers the question, what is a woman? With the guidance of a mentor, mother, or leader, each young woman will discover her unique true beauty as she is equipped and empowered to embrace her female identity and discover her own unique design and purpose in this generation. Go to thelegacyinstitute.com for your small group, class, or family study materials. That's thelegacyinstitute.com or call 425-354-8517. Our girls need this truth now, so don't wait. And now back to the carry-out show. We're talking about the Lindsay Clancy case. It's such a disturbing case for all the obvious reasons. Very difficult to talk about these things

19:48because you're talking about real people. And I want God's best for Lindsay Clancy at this point going forward. What I believe is best is that she faces responsibility, take responsibility for the criminal act of taking the lives of three other people, mating God's image, who never fulfilled their future. And that doesn't mean that I don't care about her medical history. I do. I'll give you some of that background here in just a moment. And I mentioned this before and I want to be clear. Our prisons are full of people who act out of their right mind. Do things that they don't know why they did it. They do things in a heat of anger or rage or when they're medicated or they're in alcohol and drugs. We see it every single day. We do not want them let out of prison because we know that they often commit the same crime again or worse. There's justice for a reason. And in this case, I believe that she should take criminal responsibility. Now, do I believe that she was managed well?

20:51No, do I believe that somebody needed to help her better? Yes. And I think that's important in this case to bring up. But it is not it's not the job of the jury to figure out how to go back and refit her health care. It's the job of the jury to say did she do what she actually said she did? And is she responsible? Yes. And the whole point was she's not responsible because she was out of her mind. Right. I mean, that's that's what the defense says. In fact, we'll take a look at that. They they argue that she suffered from postpartum depression. That's different than psychosis, by the way, that she had severe emotional and psychological decline, which people around her attested to. They describe her as unable to emote or unable to feel love. That's legitimate. She kind of went through at points according to her husband, described her as acting like a zombie would have been some of the medication that she's on possibly. And family members, both his and her parents were brought in to help. They argue she was functioning, functioning outwardly, but internally she was deteriorating

21:52severely. This all very legitimate observation, isn't it? Yeah, very sad. The defense placed heavy emphasis emphasis on the medication, multiple prescriptions, changing the dosages, trial and error. But friends, if you know anything about psychology or treatment, that's what happens. Have you been in for any other kind of health issue? That's what happens. You you try different prescriptions. It's called practicing medicine. That's what it is. And especially when it comes to mental health, because you don't know how the person's going to respond. So that is not a crime. That's actually how the system works. Unfortunately. The defense argued that her journal wasn't proof of clarity. It was something she was told to keep by doctors. And most importantly, the combination of medications may have altered her mental state and impaired her judgment. I believe that that is very legitimately possible. But altering your mental state and impairing your judgment, going from where you feel like a zombie and you have a hard time sleeping and you're having a hard time going through the day to day.

22:55How many people listening to me have had those experiences? Have you ever thought of killing your children? That's a different level here. And that's why we have to look at it as a crime. Even if it's a crime induced by other things, it still happened. It's still a crime. Somebody needs to take responsibility for it. And the fact that they have civil lawsuits against the medical industry and the doctors and everybody else, well, you'd have to have all the information. And some of the information about her health, that she did not tell everyone that she was working with. And the defense even says she had no motive. And they think this was the most emotionally compelling argument that she had no reason to kill her children. And she was described as a loving devoted mother and engaged in their lives. And they said, well, why would she do this then? And they don't want her to be held criminally responsible because she had no motive. But she had suicidal ideation.

23:57And she was put in a mental hospital. And let me get a little bit more detail here on this part. Because again, I'm sad about the state of her mental health. But I'm looking at this case. And this trial was, is she criminally responsible? And I keep going to those words because yes, I think she is. And how tragic that this had to happen at all, right? How tragic? I don't know actually what happened. When I look at the pictures of her family and her children, I'm sick. I'm just sick. The fact that she used exercise bands to strangle her kids while she's sent her husband out so she could do it. What didn't she say? Honey, I've reached my end. I did not tell the last mental doctors and the mental health, you know, at the place that she went to. She did not tell them that she had heard voices and she told that after the trial or after she'd killed her kids

24:59is when the first time she mentioned she heard a voice. And she did not tell them that she wanted to kill herself or her children. Well, that's important information. If you're going to hold them accountable for you doing this, you didn't tell them that. And that is part of the journey here, right? There are people talking about how important it is for us to discuss the signs for anyone who might have this disease. And I think that's probably fair to do. But the percentages of women who actually have psychosis or will just say mental illness because of having a child is very, very small. They say it's probably close to 4% probably less than that. And the fact that people are making that the issue, here's my concern. If having children can cause a mother to be mentally ill and then we say, well, if you're mentally ill, I guess it's okay if you kill your child.

26:03We are in trouble as a society. And this is why I believe one of the number one reasons I believe we need to hold everybody accountable for how they treat other people and what they do. Because in this case, if we give her an out, think of all the women who say, well, you see, pregnancy is hard for you or how about all those people that say, well, I don't want to have a child because it's dangerous for me. And so I can abort that child. This goes all the way back to the culture of death that we live in. You have people screaming women out there wearing all different kinds of colors, demanding the right to choose to kill their child and the woman. Now you have women people saying, well, if she's mentally ill and she's on drugs and she's not taking care of it, it's the healthcare industry's fault and she has a right to kill her children, even if they're five, eight, eight months and three years old. I have a problem with all of that. And yet, I also have a problem with the fact that we don't have a healthcare system that really leads to health. We have so many other issues. That is a separate conversation for another day and I'm in for it. But today, I want to do on the record

27:06to say I want her responsible for taking the life of her three children. I want her to get the help she deserves. I want her to have freedom in Christ. I want someone to bring her the gospel so she truly feels free. So she's free indeed. We'll see you next time.