The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children, has brought renewed attention to her physical injuries, medical history and personal writings as prosecutors and defence lawyers present competing accounts of her mental state.

Clancy, 35, has been charged with three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of her children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, at the family’s Duxbury home on January 24, 2023. The trial is being held at Plymouth Superior Court, where jurors have heard evidence about Clancy’s mental health, medical treatment and events surrounding the alleged killings. Recent testimony has included excerpts from her journals and evidence concerning injuries she suffered after attempting to take her own life.

One of the significant elements presented to the jury has been Clancy’s own writing from the period before the deaths of her children. Prosecutors and defence lawyers have used journal entries to present different interpretations of her state of mind. The writings described severe parenting stress, anxiety, insomnia and a growing sense of being overwhelmed.

In one entry, Clancy wrote that she felt as though she was “drowning every day”, while another described her desire to receive help and become well. Her writings have formed part of the broader evidence surrounding her mental state before January 24, 2023.

The defence has argued that Clancy was experiencing a severe postpartum mental illness and psychotic episode that left her not criminally responsible for the deaths.

The prosecution has presented a different interpretation, arguing that Clancy acted deliberately and that the evidence does not establish the level of psychosis required to remove criminal responsibility.

According to evidence presented in court, Clancy attempted to take her own life after the deaths of her children. Prosecutors have said she cut her wrists and neck before jumping from a second-storey window at the Duxbury property.

The fall caused a serious thoracic spine injury, leaving Clancy partially paralysed. She was initially taken to South Shore Hospital before being transferred to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for further treatment.

Medical testimony has indicated that the cuts to her neck were considered superficial, while injuries to her wrists required sutures.

Yes. Evidence presented during the trial indicates that Clancy sustained cuts to her neck and wrists during the suicide attempt. A physician who treated her at South Shore Hospital testified that the neck injuries were superficial. Her wrist injuries required several sutures.

Her more serious physical injury resulted from the fall from the second storey, which caused the spinal injury and subsequent paralysis. The medical evidence has become relevant to the trial because the prosecution and defence have offered competing interpretations of what happened after the children’s deaths and what it says about Clancy’s mental state.

Right now, Clancy’s situation is more complicated than simply being held in a conventional jail. After the events of January 2023, she spent a significant period receiving medical treatment because of her physical injuries and psychiatric condition. Her case has involved continued court proceedings while she has remained under state supervision and treatment.