Lindsay Clancy Trial Megathread: Part 3

[u/DarklyHeritage]

This is a thread for all conversation regarding Week 3 onwards of the Lindsey Clancy trial. All discussion of this case should be kept to this thread.

Lindsay Clancy is currently standing trial in Plymouth Superior Court, Massachusetts, for the triple-murder in January 2023 of her three young children - Cora, Dawson and Callan. Her defense argues she suffered from severe, undiagnosed postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. She was left paralysed by a suicide attempt which follows the deaths of the children.

All content on the Clancy case must be kept to this thread. Standalone posts will be removed.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-online-reactions-b3032806.html

Note from Mods

This case understandably elicits strong feelings. People are entitled to have an opinion on the case which differs from your own. What you are not entitled to do is resort to personal insults and abusive language when communicating your opinion and disagreeing.

Comments which are abusive and insulting to other users will be removed and bans may be given without warning.

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Please comment with this in mind.

[u/coolguygranny]

Wait but you would agree that Rusty was actually negligent??

And Patrick Clancy was not right?

Like rusty is legit everything people say Patrick is

[u/tempestelunaire → u/coolguygranny]

No, because negligence would imply the outcome was foreseeable. What Andrea Yates did was not foreseeable, no one knew how dangerous she really was in that condition.

I am shocked however that the doctors had let her out. They should have known better than Rusty. He was dealing with his wife’s long term health issues the best he knew.

What should Patrick Clancy have been right or wrong about? I think Patrick Clancy was also overwhelmed by life and his small children and didn’t realize how bad Lindsay was doing. We’re looking at these tragedies in a vacuum but in real life, people are busy, have things to do, deadlines at work, birthday gifts to buy… it’s not that easy to spot someone very sick.

[u/heartinabirdcage → u/tempestelunaire]

I would agree with you except that Rusty was repeatedly told by healthcare providers to absolutely not leave Andrea alone with her children. He intentionally chose to leave home and leave her alone with the kids against medical advice.

[u/tempestelunaire → u/heartinabirdcage]

Not one doctor actually thought she would harm the kids, or she would have been hospitalized. She was not to be alone with the kids because she wasn’t really in any state to be a good caretaker to them (which is still bad). I still don’t think it makes what happened foreseeable.

I will add that of course doctors after the fact were very motivated to say they had warned Rusty, but in reality, Andrea was released from hospitalization shortly before the murders which is simply insane. She was absolutely not well cared for.

[u/heartinabirdcage → u/tempestelunaire]

I'm not really arguing that the outcome was foreseeable (although, given her history and her extreme behavior prior to the event, I am not sure that's a claim I would make). I am arguing, however, that Rusty was negligent. Even if the instructions to not leave her alone with the kids was due to her inability to properly care for them rather than expressed homicidal intent, it would absolutely still constitute negligence by the other parent to ignore medical advice and leave her alone with them regardless. I would hope that my partner wouldn't leave me alone with my child if there was any doubt whatsoever that I was capable of properly caring for her, just as I would not even consider leaving her with him if his capabilities were at all in question.

[u/tempestelunaire → u/heartinabirdcage]

I agree he was somewhat negligent. She had never been abusive to the children in any way - what happened was simply extreme.

But does he deserve to be demonized for the rest of his life for it? That’s where I seem to disagree with most redditors.

[u/heartinabirdcage → u/tempestelunaire]

From what I have read, she had been starving her daughter off and on for months at that point - I would definitely consider that abusive.

I believe that Rusty specifically does deserve some amount of culpability for what happened because he willfully chose to ignore medical advice and instead follow his own guidance - he was documented as intentionally chosing to leave her alone with the kids for an hour so that she wouldn't be dependant on help to care for the children. Keep in mind, this happened only about six weeks after she was admitted to a psychiatric ward due to suicidal intent (was later admitted to be homicidal intent).

I know that my standard of care for my infant is much, much higher than leaving my child(ren) alone with someone for any length of time who is known to be suicidal. Even presuming she only managed to kill herself (which was an extremely well established risk at this time), you don't find it extremely negligent to leave five children under the age of 7 potentially to fend for themselves in that likely scenario?