Overview
- The jury started deliberations Thursday after closing arguments in Plymouth Superior Court following more than three weeks of testimony, roughly 80 witnesses and nearly 300 exhibits.
- Judge William Sullivan instructed jurors to consider four verdicts for each child — first‑degree murder, second‑degree murder, manslaughter or not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility — and allowed a single manslaughter instruction that does not separate voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
- The defense says Clancy suffered severe postpartum psychosis and was incapacitated by mismanaged medications and fragmented care, arguing she could not appreciate wrongfulness or obey the law at the time of the killings.
- Prosecutors counter that Clancy planned and carried out the killings and therefore retained the capacity to know right from wrong; a murder conviction could mean life in prison without parole while a not‑criminally‑responsible finding would likely lead to commitment in a state mental health facility.
- Beyond the verdict, the trial has highlighted gaps in perinatal mental‑health care and spawned separate civil malpractice suits, questions that have fueled public attention though they are not themselves being decided by this jury.