Key moments from the Lindsay Clancy trial as the defense starts to make its case

Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial have heard weeks of testimony as prosecutors have tried to make their case that the Massachusetts mom should be held criminally responsible for killing her three young children in 2023.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the case, but her attorneys don't deny that she caused the deaths of her kids, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, in their Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023. Instead, Clancy's attorneys have said she had postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder and was overmedicated. The prosecution alleges that Clancy planned the murders before faking a suicide attempt.

When the prosecution rested its case on Aug. 17, Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove , was called to testify for the defense. She recalled a conversation that Clancy had in December 2022, a few weeks before the killings, with her and Clancy's husband at the time, Patrick Clancy .

Musgrove said her daughter was very nervous when she said she had something to tell them.

"She told us that she had thoughts of harming the children," Musgrove said.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked Musgrove if she had any concerns about the children's safety or thought about having Clancy committed to a mental health facility, and Musgrove said she didn't.

Musgrove also testified that in the days leading up to the killings, her daughter had become paranoid and that Clancy said she couldn't remember anything.

"The medication was pretty much just destroying her mind, and it wasn't her," Musgrove said. "She said that, 'This isn't me. I just want to feel better and enjoy my kids again.'"

The jury has heard about Clancy's internet searches in court as well as diary-style entries on her phone's notes app.

"I'm sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my first," Massachusetts State Police Detective Timothy Chiappini said while reading one entry out loud in court on Aug. 13.

The writings provided some insight into Clancy's hesitations about treatments she was receiving.

"I'm on the fence about starting a new med or not. I want to feel happy, but it would be nice to feel authentically happy and not fake," Chiappini testified, quoting Clancy.

Chiappini also testified that Clancy searched on her phone "Can you treat a sociopath?" four days before the killings.

During cross-examination, Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, highlighted some of her other searches, including "how to slit your throat to die" and "can you turn airbags off on kia sorrento (sic)," which was Clancy's car.