A Massachusetts mother who admits she strangled her three young children sobbed in court this week as jurors viewed autopsy photos of her 8-month-old son—but three dead kids don't get to cry, and justice demands someone answer for that.

Lindsay Clancy, 35, is on trial in Plymouth Superior Court for the January 2023 murders of Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months, at their Duxbury home. She sent her husband out on errands, strangled all three children with exercise bands, then slit her wrists and jumped from a second-story window. She survived, partially paralyzed, and now sits in court in a wheelchair. She has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

The stakes are straightforward: if convicted, she faces life in prison without parole. If the defense succeeds with its insanity argument, she would be committed to a state mental health facility—a far different kind of sentence for a woman who killed her own children.

The prosecution's case is that Clancy acted deliberately. She reportedly told her husband and mother about thoughts of harming the kids before the murders, according to the New York Post. She had been hospitalized twice for suicidal thoughts. And prosecutors say the errands she sent her husband on were a calculated ruse to get him out of the house.

The defense, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, is building its case around postpartum psychosis—claiming Clancy was overmedicated and hearing voices. Her lawyers don't dispute she killed the children. They say she had undiagnosed bipolar disorder worsened by psychiatric medications, and they're now fighting to get three additional defense witnesses on the stand after prosecutors objected. The defense argues excluding Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, Dr. Michael Vulfovich, and Dr. Donald Condie would "deprive her due process of law and the ability to mount an effective defense."

But witness testimony so far paints a complicated picture for the defense. Childhood friend Amy Bevins, who visited Clancy at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital after the killings, said Clancy never brought up her children and never cried about them. She described Clancy's affect as "neutral." They played Uno. On cross-examination, Bevins acknowledged the visit was "awkward" and that Clancy's sister told her not to bring up the kids.

Other friends and a coworker described Clancy as a loving mother who was open about her struggles but never expressed homicidal thoughts. Bethany DeCollibus said Clancy told her she felt like a "zombie" at a birthday party for Cora weeks before the killings. Coworker Andrea Hennigan said Clancy wasn't mentally ready to return to work. Clancy texted one friend that medication had "caused her to have some dark thoughts."

The former father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, testified that he noticed she seemed "quiet" at Thanksgiving 2022 and offered to take the children for a night. His son declined. Asked about the phone call the night of the murders, he said simply: "It was terrible."

Medical examiner Dr. Kimberley Springer walked the jury through autopsy photos of baby Callan—images the court has ordered sealed from public view. Callan had abrasions on his neck and head consistent with ligature strangulation. Doctors restarted his heart and kept him on life support for three days until he was determined to be brain dead. Clancy wept through the testimony until the judge called an unscheduled recess.

The AP and CBS News framed the trial heavily through the lens of Clancy's emotional state and mental health struggles. The New York Post noted the prosecution's contention that Clancy "carefully planned the slayings because she was tired of taking care of her kids"—a detail the other outlets buried or omitted. WCVB highlighted the defense's fight over witness exclusion and the due process stakes.

Here's the question that matters: does a mental health diagnosis excuse the deliberate strangulation of three children? The psychiatric industry may have failed Lindsay Clancy. It certainly failed Cora, Dawson, and Callan. The trial, expected to last up to eight weeks, will decide whether accountability or sympathy carries the day.