Clancy lacked control and was likely unable to tell the difference between right and wrong on that January 2023 day, he told the jury on Friday.
“In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favour by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering,” Resnick testified.
The case is expected to go to the jury early next week following nearly a month of witness testimony.
Earlier this week, Clancy’s mother and former mother-in-law testified about how Clancy’s mental health deteriorated after the birth of her youngest son.
“She was begging for help,” Clancy’s former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said of a woman she described as a “very nurturing, very loving” mother.
Clancy has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors have said that in January 2023, Clancy intentionally strangled the three children with fitness bands in their Massachusetts home before jumping out of a second-floor window. Clancy, now 36, was paralysed by the jump and has attended the trial in a wheelchair.
The defence have said Clancy experienced hallucinations and delusions after giving birth to Callan and she was undergoing medical treatment for psychiatric problems. She checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for a few days just before the deaths.
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) defines postpartum psychosis as a rare serious mental health illness that can affect someone soon after having a baby.
“Postpartum psychosis is very different from the ‘baby blues’,” the NHS adds. “It’s a serious mental illness and should be treated as a medical emergency.”
If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org.
In the UK a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
