RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The jury in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who killed her three children, will decide if she can be held criminally responsible for the murders.\u00a0Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her children \u2014 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. The defense has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and can\u0027t be held liable due to insanity. The prosecution argues she planned the murders and was not psychotic.If Clancy is found guilty of first-degree murder, Massachusetts law has a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. If she\u0027s convicted of a lesser murder charge, she would still face extensive prison time, but could have the possibility of parole at some point, WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman told CBS News Boston.\u00a0Clancy\u0027s physical condition \u2014 she is paralyzed from the waist down due to an alleged suicide attempt \u2014 will likely affect where she is placed if she is convicted.\u00a0"Certainly given her physical limitations and the fact that she\u0027s on 24/7 suicide watch currently is going to influence how the prison system deals with her and manages her, if that\u0027s ultimately what happens," Roman said.\u00a0If Clancy is found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, she won\u0027t face prison time, but she also won\u0027t go free.\u00a0"She would then be committed to a state mental health facility, where she is now, indefinitely," CBS News legal analyst Caroline Polisi said on "CBS Mornings" Monday. Clancy is currently being held at Tewksbury Hospital.Clancy would be periodically evaluated, Polisi said. If doctors deem her fit to be released, it would go to a judge to decide if she is a danger to herself or others.\u00a0Polisi compared the case to that of Andrea Yates, who in 2006 was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the murders of her five children in Texas."I always note Andrea Yates is still in a psychiatric facility, so this can be an indefinite confinement," Polisi said.Under Massachusetts law, there is no time limit for commitment at a mental health facility."It could be in essence a life sentence at the state hospital if the faculty there ultimately decides she\u0027s not safe to return to the community," Roman said.\u00a0But the potential ramifications of a guilty or not guilty verdict should not be part of the jury\u0027s deliberations, Polisi said. The jurors have to come to a verdict based only on the law, not on what the potential repercussions are, she said.\u00a0The legal question in this case is whether Clancy had an understanding of right from wrong or had the ability to act within the law when she killed her children. \u00a0"This case comes down to what was in Lindsay Clancy\u0027s mind," CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson said. "Was she able to understand that what she was doing was wrong or criminal? Was she able to comport her behavior within the law?"Jurors have heard competing assessments of Clancy\u0027s state of mind from forensic psychiatrists on each side of the case.\u00a0"This case is going to come down to those warring experts" and whether the facts presented in the trial are more consistent with the prosecution\u0027s experts or the defense\u0027s experts, CBS News legal contributor Rebecca Roiphe said.Closing arguments in the trial are expected this week.\u00a0
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