Updated on: August 21, 2026 / 12:56 PM EDT
/ CBS Boston
Lindsay Clancy's murder trial resumed Friday in Massachusetts for what could be the final day of witness testimony. The defense rested after forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick, a key witness in the Andrea Yates case after she killed her five children in Texas in 2001, took the stand to testify that Clancy said she felt an "external force" take over her body before the murders.
The prosecution is now offering rebuttal witnesses before the trial goes to closing arguments, as is protocol when an insanity defense is presented.
You can watch testimony when court is in session live on CBS News Boston in the embedded video or on YouTube.
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, in their Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said the prosecution is set to call three rebuttal witnesses. Judge Sullivan said if all testimony concludes Friday, closing arguments could be held Monday. If testimony needs to resume on Monday, closings would likely be held Tuesday.
Resnick testified for the defense in the 2006 Andrea Yates trial. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Resnick testified that Yates suffered from severe postpartum psychosis.
The first rebuttal witness called by prosecutors was forensic psychiatrist Avram Mack. He interviewed Clancy in April, saying she seemed normal but did tear up at points. He said she wasn't happy with the food at the Tewksbury hospital and wasn't interested in physical therapy.
"She described feeling miserable, not wanting to be alive," Mack said.
He concluded that Clancy probably suffered from a major depressive episode and anxiety. But he said there was no evidence that she was ever bipolar in a manic state, like the defense has argued.
Mack also cast doubt on the defense's main argument that Clancy was psychotic at the time of the killings because she was overmedicated.
"I can appreciate that she felt side effects and a degree of change from the medications that she took," he said. "I don't know that that feeling or belief is necessary psychotic."
Resnick's testimony over Zoom was delayed by technical difficulties. He explained to the jury that he recently had surgery that prevented him from flying to Massachusetts for the trial.
When testimony resumed, Resnick said he's been involved in 80 cases where mothers and fathers have allegedly killed their children. He's also consulted on high-profile trials including Jeffrey Dahmer, the Unabomber and Casey Anthony.
Resnick said he did a full evaluation of Clancy about four months after the crime. He said he spent three hours interviewing Clancy and also interviewed her parents.