More than 10 expert witnesses testified for both the defence and the prosecution, including some who clashed with lawyers over Clancy’s mental health.
Over the course of her treatment, Clancy was put on over a dozen medications, and sought help from a suicide hotline and the emergency room.
Clancy’s team tried to convince jurors she had postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which postpartum women can experience mania, depression or a mixture of both. Clancy claims she experienced hallucinations and delusions.
One day in the courtroom grew particularly heated as one of Clancy’s psychiatrists, Jennifer Tufts, testified for the prosecution that Clancy did not show signs of psychosis during their sessions.
There were “no serious signs that her safety or anyone else’s safety was at risk,” said Tufts, who saw Clancy over a dozen times for five months.
But defence attorneys pointed to Tufts’ medical notes, describing Clancy’s “not hyper, pressured speech”. Pressured speech – a rapid, frantic way of talking – can be a sign of mania.
Tufts denied that she believed Clancy had pressured speech, saying the “not” applied to both the words hyper and pressured. As defence attorney Kevin Reddington pressed her, she replied: “I don’t care what it says. I know what I meant.”
Reddington also grew tense as he repeatedly questioned another prosecution expert, psychiatrist Avram Mack, about whether postpartum psychosis is a diagnosis.
The American Psychiatric Association views postpartum psychosis as only a proposed illness, he said.
Mack avoided calling postpartum psychosis a recognised diagnosis, at one point responding: “I’m not sure if that specifically answers your question.”
In a frustrated tone, Reddington responded: “I don’t care.”
