Same Horror, Different Sympathy: Lindsay Clancy, Chris Benoit and the Stories We Tell

Written By: Ezra J. Skudera; Co-Host , The Skud Missile Podcast

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial was a media spectacle, a question of law, but the most important part of this case were the lives that were lost that day. In the evening hours of January 24, 2023, 3 children lost their lives. In a world that is becoming more unstable, more unsafe, one place that children should feel safe is in their own home.

On that night, Lindsay Clancy had sent her husband Patrick Clancy to run some errands for her while she had watched the children. While her husband was gone, she had found a way to murder her 3 children with exercise bands. Strangling them beyond recognition and stripped them of their once long lives that they had ahead of them. Patrick had found her outside of the house after she had jumped out of her bedroom window, paralyzing herself in the process.

The root of this entire story being so news worthy was the documented struggle of postpartum depression that Lindsay had been experiencing, and the medication that she had been prescribed throughout her postpartum psychosis and depression. This was the defense’s strategy to get these charges dropped, which was to use the insanity defense and medical malpractice to get Lindsay exonerated from these charges. In the process, the Clancy trial has been a topic of debate for the media, and now it’s time to give my perspective.

The struggle of Postpartum depression and psychosis is real. As a man there is no way to feel or experience that in the slightest. But, from a legal perspective this case should’ve been a clear cut verdict. To prove first degree murder in the state of Massachusetts, you need to prove one of two things. One, being that there was deliberate premeditation of the murders, meaning that the perpetrator had deliberated and decided to kill the children with a full conscience and purpose. This could be proven and confirmed by a Jury because of the fact that she killed all three children at one time, while the husband was out of the house. The second way was to prove extreme atrocity and cruelty. This was proven by the prosecution through the means of which she had committed the murders, with an exercise band.

Though there are many that will disagree that she even murdered her children in the first place and pin the blame on the husband, those accusations have no merit and in court, and admission of guilt was presented to the prosecution in the pre-trial phase of this case and was denied by the prosecution in order to have the evidence be presented to a jury.

On September 4th, 2026 the jury was hopelessly deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. Which means one of 3 things. 1. The prosecution can charge her again, and go back to trial with an entirely new jury. 2. The defense and prosecution can negotiate a plea agreement and avoid trial all together. Lastly, the prosecution can choose to not indict her and she will be exonerated. As of now, Lindsay will be put into a mental health facility until there is a review of her mental state. This means that she is not just set free in a sense, but it is up to the prosecution to bring up more charges on her to go back to trial.

The real reason for this article is to send this message. Murder no matter what the cause is not justified, and a mother who murdered her 3 children is not an exception because of postpartum psychosis and misdiagnosis and medication by her medical team.

The first case that never went to trial that came to mind which does relate to sports was Chris Benoit, who had murdered his child and wife in a murder suicide. Chris Benoit murdered his child Daniel and his wife Nancy in 2007 before taking his own life. The motive for this was along similar lines, being that Chris Benoit suffered from CTE, which is a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma.

In the case of Lindsay Clancy and Chris Benoit, the results of the public perception should be the same. Chris Benoit had CTE, and still had no excuse for his actions and should be seen by society as a monster. Lindsay Clancy should be held to the same standard. No matter what her condition might’ve been, children were lost and instead of the public focusing on the condition, they should be focusing on the action and lives that were taken that night.