The prosecution resumed questioning its final witness Wednesday in the murder trial against Lindsay Clancy, with an FBI psychiatrist returning to the stand before the defense questions him and closing arguments begin.
Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Virginia and a senior psychiatrist for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, began testifying Tuesday that he did not believe Clancy’s account that a voice ordered her to kill her three young children.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
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Clancy's mental health is a key issue at her trial. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington does not dispute that Clancy, 36, killed the children but says she shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because she had postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Clancy then also tried to kill herself.
She has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Saathoff, who has treated thousands of patients with psychosis, said he found Clancy's account unconvincing.
He found it unusual that Clancy said the voice stopped once she was done strangling the children, that the voice was constant rather than intermittent and that she never previously reported hearing a voice to her medical providers. She also gave a different timeline to other evaluators about when she first heard the voice that day, he said.
“Committing the act is not curative of the voice,” Saathoff said of the voice stopping abruptly. “I’ve not ever seen that.”
Saathoff will be cross-examined by Reddington after prosecutors finish questioning him. That will be followed by closing arguments, possibly as early as Thursday.
