Lindsay Clancy sent her husband out for takeout, mapping how long the errand would take. Prosecutors say this proves she planned to kill her three children. Her defense says she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis. Her trial is scheduled to begin in July 2026, and the question at its center is one the courts have grappled with before: Can someone who plans a killing still be legally insane?

The assumption that planned violence equals sane violence is intuitive. It is also incorrect.

Andrea Yates drowned her five children on June 20, 2001. Her actions were purposeful and methodical. She waited for her husband to leave for work. She filled the bathtub. She brought each child to the water, one by one, starting with the youngest. She laid their bodies on the bed and covered them with a sheet. Then she called 911.

Yates knew what she was doing was against the law. She expected to be arrested. And yet, on retrial in 2006, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

How? Because Yates believed her children were spiritually damaged and would burn in hell. By killing them before they reached the age of accountability, she believed she was saving their souls. Her planning, i.e., waiting for her husband to leave, preventing the family dog from interfering, was meticulous. But every element of that planning served her........

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