Lindsay Clancy witness says online searches showed ‘preparatory planning’ to strangle her children as jury prepares to decide her fate: Live updates

‘My opinion is that she did have the capacity to appreciate right from wrong,’ Dr Saathoff testified.

This is based on several things, he said.

One day earlier, Clancy met with Dr Jennifer Tufts and denied suicidal or homicidal thoughts. They had also spoken about future treatment.

He also said that he noticed ‘preparatory planning’ in her online searches for the distance of 3V and searches for CVS before asking her husband about getting takeout and ‘adding on’ the CVS trip as another errand.

That she committed the crime when there were no witnesses. Timing was a big thing. Clancy needed a window of time to kill the children and herself, Saathoff said.

‘She was conscious of time,’ he said. This was also seen in the locking of the door to delay Patrick from entering the bedroom.

The weapons used – the exercise bands – being readily available and nearby also shows planning, he said.

And the phone call between her and Patrick was significant. Clancy called him back showing presence of mind to call him back and to conceal from him what was going on.

‘It is my opinion within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Lindsay Clancy was criminally responsible,’ he said.

On the latest episode of The Trial USA, crime correspondent Rachel Sharp takes listeners inside Plymouth Superior Court for day fifteen of the Lindsay Clancy trial, the second day of the defense’s case.

Rachel has been covering every single day of the trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, keeping our readers up to date with live reports and filing video roundups from the scene.

Reddington asked if it is an unreasonable decision for Clancy to decide she does not want to take that drug – as a nurse who was looking up medication.

There was a long pause.

‘That was her decision,’ Saathoff said.

Later, he said that many Americans find it beneficial.

When pressed and after a long pause – he then finally confirmed that it would be reasonable for someone to turn down taking the drug.

When treating women with postpartum depression, it ‘can be’ important to take a blood test, he said.

None of Clancy’s providers ever took a blood test prior to the killings.

Dr Saathoff confirmed that he has not written any papers on auditory hallucinations.

Reddington then asked him about Dr Phillip Resnick and how he is one of the leading experts in the space.

‘Is he a world renowned authority in your field for filicide?’ Reddington asked.

‘Yes, he is well known,’ Saathoff said.

He agreed that Resnick has also written on auditory hallucinations, with Reddington seeking to enter the papers as evidence.

The state objected and a sidebar was called.

It is being entered.

Jurors continued to make notes during the sidebar.

Dr Resnick was the defense expert witness who testified that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible. He is an expert in filicide and previously worked on the Andrea Yates case.

By contrast, Reddington reeled off Dr Saathoff’s resume – showing a focus on hostage negotiations, national security, threat assessments, terrorism and substance abuse in prisons.

When asked if his expertise was negotiations, Dr Saathoff paused and admitted ‘yes.’

Under cross-examination, Kevin Reddington is pointing out that Dr Saathoff only met with Clancy over Zoom and that he did not see her until more than three years after the killings.

He ‘questioned or interrogated’ Clancy two months ago, Reddington said.

Clancy has her arms crossed and is watching the exchange attentively.

Dr Saathoff said he was surprised that Clancy was able to kill her children with the time she had without having a plan.

‘Having no instructions as to how to do of being able to execute those decisions including being able to get a phone call and return it to her husband in the process of all of this, certainly the phone call was not expected, that is surprising that she is able to accomplish this without, without any other kind of direction or plan,’ he said.

Dr Saathoff said Clancy told him that when she had intrusive thoughts, the Ativan helped them go away.

He said that Ativan is not designed to make psychosis or a voice go away.

Someone can be in a state of psychosis and still know right from wrong and conform their behavior to the law, according to Saathoff.

Many people will take actions to not act on the command hallucinations – especially if they are so against someone’s values, he said.

Lindsay Clancy is accused of murdering her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – in January 2023.

Although the 36-year-old does not deny killing her children, she has pleaded not guilty and claimed she is not responsible for her actions because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

On the day of the killings, Clancy asked her husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave their home to get takeout food and to pick up something at a pharmacy.

The former nurse strangled the children with exercise bands, then used multiple methods to try to end her own life.

She was paralyzed after falling from the home’s second-story window and is being held at a state hospital.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.

Clancy’s suicide attempt was ‘very, very serious’ Saathoff said, which is why she used three different methods.

The lacerations on her wrists and neck not being deep does not mean it was not serious, he said.

She was trying to kill herself but it was difficult to do.

Supporters of Lindsay Clancy held signs outside the Plymouth Superior Court on Wednesday morning.

Dr Gregory Saathoff testified on Wednesday that he believes Clancy had ‘control’ at the time of the killings.

The voice did not tell her where to kill the children, how to kill the children, what to use to kill the children, what order to kill the children, or how to kill herself, he said.

Given the small amount of time that Clancy had inside the home without Patrick, she had to commit the killings and then harm herself ‘quickly and methodically,’ he testified.

So being able to execute those decisions and also to take a phone call in that time ‘indicated that she had control.’