As widely reported, on September 4, the judge declared a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial. Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, pleaded not guilty to killing her three children on Jan. 24, 2023. Her defense argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a psychiatric disorder. Prosecutors, however, called on a forensic psychiatrist, who testified that she “retained the capacities that were required for having criminal responsibility,” ABC News reported.
Questions about brain injury came up in the medical testimony. A January 24 jump from a second-floor window, following the strangulation of her kids, left Clancy paralyzed from the waist down. While one doctor testified that Clancy’s head CT was “unremarkable,” as reported by Boston 25, a defense pathologist testified that Clancy did a “freefall dive head first,” causing a C1 (first cervical vertebra) Jefferson fracture.
According to a 2021 report available on the NLM database, “Jefferson fractures with potential tears in the transverse ligament can cause cervical spine instability and can result in neurologic injury if not appropriately diagnosed and managed.” The NLM database also includes the results of a 2011 study on the rare neurological condition Collet-Sicard Syndrome due to Jefferson fracture. The report reveals that the examined patient had decreased gag reflex on the left side, decreased laryngeal elevation, tongue deviation to the left side, and atrophy of the left trapezius. Jefferson fracture, though, does not directly cause cognitive impairment.
Newsweek reported that Clancy had no skull fracture or brain bleed. A psychiatrist testified that Clancy’s brief delirium in the hospital could have been caused by anesthesia, oxygen problems or an elevated heart rate, and that it resolved, reports CBS Boston and Fox News. After the trial, defense attorney Kevin Reddington claimed she came out of “this obvious coma” with “no memory,” CNN reports.
As of now, no decision on whether or not to retry the case appears to have been made.
