Lindsay Clancy, Duxbury, Mass mom who strangled 3 children was overmedicated & drugged up on 12 prescription drugs doctors gave her as lawyer plans defence at murder trial.
A lawyer for a Duxbury, Massachusetts woman, Lindsay Clancy accused of strangling her three children was at the mercy of 12 prescription drugs that ‘turned her into a zombie — and caused her to her to experience homicidal thoughts and to lash out.’
‘One of the major issues here is the horrific overmedication of drugs that caused homicidal ideation, suicidal ideation,’ attorney Kevin Reddington told the Boston Globe on Friday.
‘No overdose [by Lindsay.] They [Lindsay and her husband Patrick] went to doctors repeatedly saying, ‘Please help us.’ This was turning her into a zombie,’ the attorney said.
‘The medications that were prescribed were over the top, absolutely over the top,’ Reddington insisted.
He said that between last October and January, Lindsay was prescribed no less than 12 medications for her condition, postpartum psychosis which she was suffering in the months after giving child birth to her youngest child.
Were a mother’s homicidal actions the direct result of prescribed pharmaceuticals?
Reddington identified nine as zolpidem (Ambien), clonazepam, (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), fluoxetine (Prozac), lamotrigine, (Lamictil), lorazepam, (Ativan), mirtazapine, (Remeron), quetiapine fumarate, (Seroquel) and trazodone, which is known by its generic name.
Several of the meds are prescribed for depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
Clancy, 32, who was on leave as a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, leaped out of a window of her Duxbury home after allegedly attacking her children.
She is charged with murdering 5-year-old daughter Cora, and 3-year-old son Dawson and trying to kill 8-month-old son Callan, who later died at a hospital.
Clancy had previously shared on social media about her struggles with anxiety as a mom — along with the young mom reportedly suffered from postpartum depression.
‘It’s over medication, absolutely over medications — possibly with a component of post-partum depression,’ Reddington told the Globe.
‘She had medical care and treatment on a regular basis. And her husband was very proactive in trying to protect her and help her with the doctors’ medication she was prescribed, said the lawyer, who has hired a forensic mental health expert and toxicologist to help build the defense case.
Medical professional personnel culpability?
‘They went through hell — and they didn’t come back,’ Reddington claimed.
Duxbury Police Chief Michael Carbone has said Clancy is “improving daily” at a hospital, but Reddington said her injuries have left her unable to walk – though he declined to describe her as ‘paralyzed.’
‘She’s not in good physical shape. She’s not in good emotional shape … She is not going to get out of bed and walk out of the room,’ the lawyer told the Boston Globe.
Clancy allegedly carried out the attempted murder-suicide on Jan. 24 after her husband, Patrick, stepped out of their home to pick up a takeout order.
Reddington said Patrick also made a stop at a CVS along the way before returning home, where he called 911 about four minutes after arriving.
The lawyer told the Globe that Patrick had not been warned by medical professionals to not leave his wife alone with the kids.
Legal defense strategy
‘Not that I’m aware of. Course not. He loved her. He knew she was a great mother, a fantastic person,’ the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, Reddington said he was not abandoning a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity during her expected murder trial.
‘The black letter law definition of lack of criminal responsibility in Massachusetts says that if a person suffers from a mental disease or defect,’ they may be found not guilty due to their disturbed mental state, he told the Globe.
Lindsay is expected to make a Zoom appearance in Plymouth District Court for her arraignment at 2 p.m. Tuesday, next week Reddington said.
He told the news outlet he plans to raise the issue of overmedication at the hearing and ask the judge not to make her await trial at the state’s prison for women, MCI-Framingham, or the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital.
The lawyer said he’ll ask if the woman could be kept at her parent’s home with a GPS device, at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, or at the Worcester Recovery Center, a secure Department of Mental Health facility.
‘Something humane,’ he told the Globe.
Reddington said Lindsay has not been allowed to speak with anyone on the phone — including her husband and her parents — or have visitors other than medical professionals, social workers and a previous lawyer.
