Lindsay Clancy Trial- Day 18

brooke mcleod
23 hours ago
6 min read

Witness #9- Phillip Resnick- Called by prosecution

Forensic Psychologist

Renowned forensic psychologist, consulted on Jeffery Dahmer case, Unabomber case and Andrea Yates among many others.
Did his evaluation and completed his report by sept 2023
Since then he has reviewed extensive records int his case starting with her health struggles in the fall of 2022 - 2024 reports published by prosecutions forensic psychologist
Reveals that the prosecutions own psychologist found no evidence to suggest Lindsay was lying, faking or exaggerating her symptoms at anytime.
States that his diagnosis of Lindsay Clancy has Bi-Polar II and severe depression. In addition to that because of her history of anxiety after her first 2 pregnancies and because it began within 3 months postpartum of having callen it becomes Bi-polar II with Severe depression with Postpartum Onset
Ultimately he found that by the day of crime she was Psychotic
Believes that she could not conduct her self to the law and that the voice speaking to her made her believe hat she was doing as right
In her mind she was convinced that her children would be at harm or not taken care of the way they should because she would be gone. and that she was helping them and doing what was right by bringing them to heaven with her, which contributes to the suicide attempt after.
He testifies that the only reason she has not killed her self since is because she is under constant monitoring and can not be without a staff member at anytime. making it near impossible to carry out such act.

On cross

Prosecutors use a document for a course he delivers to other psychologist talking about how to testify to imply he teaches / encourages holding back information in discovery
They talk about the 5 filicide motives/categories:
- Altruistic Filicide: The parent kills the child out of a distorted sense of love or mercy. They may believe they are saving the child from real or imagined suffering, or they intend to commit suicide and do not want to leave the child behind in a world they perceive as intolerable
- Acutely Psychotic Filicide: The parent kills the child during a severe psychiatric episode, such as severe depression, delirium, or psychosis. This act is often driven by command hallucinations (e.g., voices telling the parent to kill) or extreme delusions where the motive has no rational basis
- Fatal Maltreatment: Death is typically an unintended outcome resulting from chronic or severe child abuse, neglect, or medical abuse such as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, rather than a planned desire to kill.
- Unwanted Child: The parent views the child as a severe hindrance, financial burden, or barrier to their lifestyle or relationships. This category frequently overlaps with cases of neonaticide (killing a newborn shortly after birth)
- Spouse Revenge (Retaliatory): The parent kills the child specifically to inflict emotional pain, grief, or revenge upon the child's other parent, often during or following a contentious separation or marital conflict.
Dr. Resnick puts Lindsay in Altruistic and Acutely Psychotic categories
Prosecutors point out facts that it's more common for parents to be in the other 3 categories and that more mothers kill their children without a metal illness then ones with a mental illness
the discuss a article where he says, anniversaries , birthdays and things related to the incident can prolong depression and trigger the mental health side of those above mothers.
Prosecutor's compare the Andrea Yates case and how Andrea tried to kill herself twice and admit her self to hospital 5 times proving she tried to resist but claiming Lindsay didn't try
Dr. Resnick reveals that due to her overwhelming fear that her children would be taken away from her she tried to minimize her symptoms. And testifies that she did try to resist the urge of the voice over the fall but that people were unaware of these times due to her trying to minimize them.
confirms that since her time a Tukesbury she has not had and auditory or visual hallucinations, not incidents of self harm, and that she remains hopeful for her future and would like to advocate for postpartum psychosis and do a marathon in her wheelchair.
prosecution brings up a video of Dr. Resnick's interview with Lindsay to challenge her behaviour/affect. Defence lawyer that asks if that means the video can be entered.

Thoughts: this dude is very knowledgable and exposed that the prosecution team found she wasn't faking postpartum psychosis. After this prosecutors seem to be grasping at anything they could, a lot of their questions and Dr. Resnick's sub-sequential answers were pointing out that this type of crime is not usual and is rare statistic wise but can happen. Also not related but interesting fact I looked into after hearing the crimes he's consulted on, Dr. Resnick is 88 years old and still working and lecturing.

DEFENCE RESTS THEIR CASE 👨🏼‍⚖️

Prosecution calls rebuttal witness

Rebuttal Witness #1- Dr. Avram Mac

Psychiatrist

Professor currently and seems to have a lot of focus in child or adolescent psychiatry but also have experience in forensic psychiatry.
Goes over how to review for criminal responsibility
Mass. statue criminal responsibility: 3 parts
- did the individual suffer from mental illness at the time
- did they know if it was against the law or wrong at the time of offence
- lacks the ability to conform their actions to the law at the time of offence
They ask him if he's aware that mental disorder is medical term and he said yes and then asked if mental defect or disease is the legal term and he says "okay" ( even confused the judge)
reviewed Lindsay's medical and criminal records, the victims medical records and the other psychiatrist's and psychologist's records
met with her on April 10th and 12th of 2026
seen no abnormalities of mental status exam, she was distressed and tearful at some points on certain subjects
Lindsay described her typical day, she mostly stayed in bed or on her own. Would not interact so much the other patients but would interact with staff. Wasn't really interested in the food. Had visitors. Wasn't really into personal hygiene especially showing as she finds it embarrassing needing staff assistance.
She described feeling depressed, miserable, not wanting to be alive.
medications at the time were: Zyprexa 2.5mg (typically used for psychosis her records indicate its for bi-polar). Also on Trazodone, Wellbutrin, Clonidine, Propranolol
She's not convinced she has Bi-Polar
She describes situational depression over her current stressors:
- remorse or sadness about the events of Jan 24
- estrangement/separation from her now ex husband
- being separated from the world
- her injury
Prior to 2022 not much mental health history, mainly anxiety and high driving. No family history.
Didn't speak to something known as collaterals (such as Patrick Clancy or Lindsay's family)
diagnosis for 2022-2023 is that Lindsay suffered a major depressive episode with general anxiety disorder secondary to the episode which is likely part of a larger Major Depressive Disorder.
talks about risk factors and protective factors
says that people will sometimes seem happier or having a great day before committing suicide and his reason is because they are trending back up from the episode and now have more energy to complete the act

on cross

Asks if he's there to investigate on behalf on the District Attorney and the witness answers "i'm not sure what you mean by investigate"🤯
He agrees he retained by the DA's office (being paid)
Reddington points out that he didn't speak to anyone about Lindsay or her behaviour before hand
clearly didn't review much of her records, says she didn't have a difficult birth with cora ( this was already established as yes)
asked about dawson's age at the time on the incident, he says 4 (he was 3 )
this witness asks "what's the question" after being asked a question A LOT!
hired through a retention agency 🧐 says they contact him because he has a robust career.
points out his focus is in child and adolescent and addictions
testifies that postpartum psychosis is actually a type of bi polar

Oh man this guy......... he just goes on and on and on. somehow it seems that with all his talking he never really fully explains anything. also his reasoning for why people may feel happier before taking their lives is just stupid and it's been proven that they feel happier because they know their pain is going to end and they are at peace. Actually the real reason people are happier before suicide would have been a stronger element to prove the premeditation aspect that the prosecution is trying to prove so that really doesn't help them. Not going to lie i had a hard time getting through this testimony because it was so boring and repetitive. long story short... he thinks she's criminally responsible. Also I would never want this guy treating me haha. Reddington comes in fiery. this guy clearly annoys him haha. However he seems to also annoy the judge at times. Also he kind of guesses at his answers but uses broad answers to hide it. example would be reddington asks him about when anxiety started after callen and he says in the fall but not with confidence. For me the best part of his testimony was the sidebar when the sound gets shut off and I didn't have to listen to his rambling. He is also either looking a the camera smiling or looking at the jury saying things like " actually I wrote a paper on blah blah blah". Second best part of his testimony is when the judge tries to tell Reddington to let him finish answering and reddington said " he's just going to go on for half an hour" followed by multiple laughs in the court.

Forensic Psychologist

Renowned forensic psychologist, consulted on Jeffery Dahmer case, Unabomber case and Andrea Yates among many others.

Did his evaluation and completed his report by sept 2023

Since then he has reviewed extensive records int his case starting with her health struggles in the fall of 2022 - 2024 reports published by prosecutions forensic psychologist

Reveals that the prosecutions own psychologist found no evidence to suggest Lindsay was lying, faking or exaggerating her symptoms at anytime.

States that his diagnosis of Lindsay Clancy has Bi-Polar II and severe depression. In addition to that because of her history of anxiety after her first 2 pregnancies and because it began within 3 months postpartum of having callen it becomes Bi-polar II with Severe depression with Postpartum Onset

Ultimately he found that by the day of crime she was Psychotic

Believes that she could not conduct her self to the law and that the voice speaking to her made her believe hat she was doing as right

In her mind she was convinced that her children would be at harm or not taken care of the way they should because she would be gone. and that she was helping them and doing what was right by bringing them to heaven with her, which contributes to the suicide attempt after.

He testifies that the only reason she has not killed her self since is because she is under constant monitoring and can not be without a staff member at anytime. making it near impossible to carry out such act.

On cross

Prosecutors use a document for a course he delivers to other psychologist talking about how to testify to imply he teaches / encourages holding back information in discovery

They talk about the 5 filicide motives/categories:

Altruistic Filicide: The parent kills the child out of a distorted sense of love or mercy. They may believe they are saving the child from real or imagined suffering, or they intend to commit suicide and do not want to leave the child behind in a world they perceive as intolerable

Acutely Psychotic Filicide: The parent kills the child during a severe psychiatric episode, such as severe depression, delirium, or psychosis. This act is often driven by command hallucinations (e.g., voices telling the parent to kill) or extreme delusions where the motive has no rational basis

Fatal Maltreatment: Death is typically an unintended outcome resulting from chronic or severe child abuse, neglect, or medical abuse such as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, rather than a planned desire to kill.

Unwanted Child: The parent views the child as a severe hindrance, financial burden, or barrier to their lifestyle or relationships. This category frequently overlaps with cases of neonaticide (killing a newborn shortly after birth)

Spouse Revenge (Retaliatory): The parent kills the child specifically to inflict emotional pain, grief, or revenge upon the child's other parent, often during or following a contentious separation or marital conflict.

Dr. Resnick puts Lindsay in Altruistic and Acutely Psychotic categories

Prosecutors point out facts that it's more common for parents to be in the other 3 categories and that more mothers kill their children without a metal illness then ones with a mental illness

the discuss a article where he says, anniversaries , birthdays and things related to the incident can prolong depression and trigger the mental health side of those above mothers.

Prosecutor's compare the Andrea Yates case and how Andrea tried to kill herself twice and admit her self to hospital 5 times proving she tried to resist but claiming Lindsay didn't try

Dr. Resnick reveals that due to her overwhelming fear that her children would be taken away from her she tried to minimize her symptoms. And testifies that she did try to resist the urge of the voice over the fall but that people were unaware of these times due to her trying to minimize them.

confirms that since her time a Tukesbury she has not had and auditory or visual hallucinations, not incidents of self harm, and that she remains hopeful for her future and would like to advocate for postpartum psychosis and do a marathon in her wheelchair.

prosecution brings up a video of Dr. Resnick's interview with Lindsay to challenge her behaviour/affect. Defence lawyer that asks if that means the video can be entered.

DEFENCE RESTS THEIR CASE 👨🏼‍⚖️

Psychiatrist

Professor currently and seems to have a lot of focus in child or adolescent psychiatry but also have experience in forensic psychiatry.

Goes over how to review for criminal responsibility

Mass. statue criminal responsibility: 3 parts

did the individual suffer from mental illness at the time

did they know if it was against the law or wrong at the time of offence

lacks the ability to conform their actions to the law at the time of offence

They ask him if he's aware that mental disorder is medical term and he said yes and then asked if mental defect or disease is the legal term and he says "okay" ( even confused the judge)

reviewed Lindsay's medical and criminal records, the victims medical records and the other psychiatrist's and psychologist's records

met with her on April 10th and 12th of 2026

seen no abnormalities of mental status exam, she was distressed and tearful at some points on certain subjects

She described feeling depressed, miserable, not wanting to be alive.

medications at the time were: Zyprexa 2.5mg (typically used for psychosis her records indicate its for bi-polar). Also on Trazodone, Wellbutrin, Clonidine, Propranolol

She's not convinced she has Bi-Polar

She describes situational depression over her current stressors:

remorse or sadness about the events of Jan 24

estrangement/separation from her now ex husband

being separated from the world

her injury

Prior to 2022 not much mental health history, mainly anxiety and high driving. No family history.

Didn't speak to something known as collaterals (such as Patrick Clancy or Lindsay's family)

diagnosis for 2022-2023 is that Lindsay suffered a major depressive episode with general anxiety disorder secondary to the episode which is likely part of a larger Major Depressive Disorder.

talks about risk factors and protective factors

says that people will sometimes seem happier or having a great day before committing suicide and his reason is because they are trending back up from the episode and now have more energy to complete the act

on cross

Asks if he's there to investigate on behalf on the District Attorney and the witness answers "i'm not sure what you mean by investigate"🤯

He agrees he retained by the DA's office (being paid)

Reddington points out that he didn't speak to anyone about Lindsay or her behaviour before hand

clearly didn't review much of her records, says she didn't have a difficult birth with cora ( this was already established as yes)

asked about dawson's age at the time on the incident, he says 4 (he was 3 )

this witness asks "what's the question" after being asked a question A LOT!

hired through a retention agency 🧐 says they contact him because he has a robust career.

points out his focus is in child and adolescent and addictions

testifies that postpartum psychosis is actually a type of bi polar

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