Dr. Phil Breaks Silence on Lindsay Clancy Mistrial — and His Warning Is Impossible to Ignore
Just days after a judge declared a mistrial in the heartbreaking Lindsay Clancy case, Dr. Phil McGraw is breaking his silence — and his message is impossible to ignore: three innocent children must not be forgotten. Here is what he had to say.
The famed psychologist appeared on Fox News Live on Saturday with anchor Aishah Hasnie, just one day after a judge at Plymouth Superior Court declared a mistrial on September 4 when jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Clancy, 36, admitted to strangling her three children in 2023, court documents claim. Her legal team has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and wasn’t in control of her actions at the time.
But for McGraw, the focus needs to stay on the little ones: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan.
“Three innocent children did lose their lives,” he said. “You can never explain these situations away simply.”
He also voiced concerns that mental illness is being treated like a “political, ideological football” in the courtroom, with both sides spinning the narrative instead of looking at what actually took place.
Accountability is coming, McGraw insisted — but he made clear that even a not-guilty verdict by reason of mental defect or disease wouldn’t mean freedom.
“She’s not going home,” he said. “She’s going to have to live with this the rest of her life and probably in a psychiatric facility.”
Comparing severe psychosis to a brain tumor, he explained that a mind can be just as “hijacked” by illness as by a visible growth — and that people tend to underestimate how powerful that can be.
“I’m not excusing what she did in any way,” he added. “I think she should be held fully accountable, but I think we need to understand causation.”
As for the prosecution, McGraw called their presentation “pretty clunky” early on, though he acknowledged they seemed to pull things together by the end. Still, he said the defense offered a much more understandable and coherent explanation to the jury.
Beyond the trial itself, McGraw said he fears a “copycat” effect — and he stressed that the conversation around postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis needs to be much clearer.
“Postpartum psychosis is a psychiatric emergency that requires immediate hospitalization,” he said, adding that it’s not something to manage with medication tweaks or an extra weekly appointment.
Clancy’s case, he said, was a “psychiatric emergency that wasn’t treated as such” — noting that she reportedly asked for help and admitted herself to the hospital.
Still, he warned against casting her as any kind of heroine.
“There’s nothing to be celebrated here,” he said.
McGraw also shared his belief that juries “tend to get it right,” noting that this jury appeared to be “headed toward committing her for a long period of time” before the mistrial was declared.
His biggest fear? That people will forget Cora, Dawson, and Callan.
“We need to adjudicate this case, and then we need to step back and say, ‘What can we learn from this?'” he said.
While situations like Clancy’s reportedly occur only one or two times out of 1,000, McGraw called that one or two times too many — and he hopes the red flags in this case will help other families step in before tragedy strikes.
“Reach out for help,” he urged. “It’s not weakness. It’s strength.”
With the possibility of a retrial looming and so many questions still unanswered, will this case finally change how we talk about maternal mental health — or will the focus stay on the courtroom battle?
