Lindsay Clancy's Lawyer Cross-Exams Psychologist Kirk Heliburn — Part 1

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington cross-examined psychologist Kirk Heliburn today about his opinion that Clancy was not psychotic when she killed her children and instead acted out of a need for control. Heliburn evaluated Clancy beginning in January 2025 at the request of prosecutors. He talked to her and family members and reviewed her medical records and criminal for the Jan. 24, 2023, strangulation deaths of her children. Reddington began by questioning Heliburn about his testimony in direct-exam that Clancy spoke inconsistently about what she experienced when she strangled the children. This is the first 67 minutes of the cross-exam. 02:09 "I have not heard of post intensive care syndrome." 05:51 "How much money did you make on the case, Doctor? Simple." "Well, it's not that simple, but I'm I'm being paid at $300 an hour." "Okay, so how much money did you make on the case?" "Well, $300 an hour times 180." 06:18 "Probably up to this point, it's been about $54,000." 07:50 "When I was a staff psychologist at the forensic service at Florida State Hospital." "When was that, please?" "That was back in 1982 ... I had a therapy group, which was comprised of women who had killed their children. They were severely mentally ill, and at that time, it was important to recognize the severity of their mental illness, and so I work with them in a group at that time." 16:00 "You also participate and have written about to kill and not kill. That is the question for Drexel University, where you were a professor, correct?" "Yes." "Alright. Assessing risk of violence towards others in psychiatrically hospitalized populations. You focused on that, right?" "Yes." 21:09 "You wrote about handling difficult cross examination, integrating perspectives, combining substance with style?" "Yes." "And and what is 25 words or less? What is that basically telling people how to what withstand cross examination?" "It's how most effectively to convey the results of the evaluation that you have done." 22:26 "You did write an article 48 years, 49 years ago. You published an article on psychosis in 1977 with your dad, before while you were in college, apparently, right? Right?" "Yeah, I was his research assistant at that time when I was in college." 23:07 "That's the only article you ever wrote dealing with that issue. Is that correct, sir?" "Dealing with what issue, sir?" "Postpartum psychosis." "Yes." 24:40 "And when you got involved with this case three years later, or two and a half years later, you'd agree with me that it was quite publicized, right?" "Yes, I would agree with that." 25:19 "You had an open mind when you went in there to Tewksbury to see and speak to for three days with Lindsay Clancy?" "I did my best to to have an open mind. Yes." 27:58 "Did it any time she expressed to you that she was tired and wanted to take a break?" "We offered her in the beginning..." "My question, sir, was. -- " objection 29:05 "So your diagnosis is depressive bipolar two, right?" "Bipolar two disorder. Right." "Okay, and that's a serious mental disease, isn't it?" "Yes, it is." 31:25 " it's not a bad thing to chop up the carrots and tell somebody this is how I like my child to be to be fed, right? There's nothing wrong with that, right?" "Not that I know." 34:04 "I knew that she was very good with her kids, paid a lot of attention to them, spent a lot of time with them, and really enjoyed it." "Even right up to within hours of their killing, she was making snowmen with them, right?" "Yes, she was playing with the two older children out in the backyard." 38:24 "There's nothing wrong with a woman being concerned about her babies when she's not at home, right? There's nothing wrong with that?" "I wasn't presenting it as something that is wrong." "I'll back off. I'm sorry. I thought you did. I thought yesterday you were telling this jury that because Lindsay didn't like to leave her kids at home, that was a factor that Dr. Heliburn considered in his opinion. But that's fine." "You agree that there's nothing wrong with a woman being concerned about her children leaving them out of the house, right?" "No, I don't believe I said that." 41:08 " prior to seeing Tufts and the other healthcare providers, she was a happy woman, wasn't she?" "She was in many respects happy, pleased with her life. So she wasn't happy in an unqualified way, but she was yes, she was very happy with with certain aspects of her life." 44:41 "You had concerns all along about this, starting in mid-October, about the impact of the medications on her insomnia. Correct?" "Yes, insomnia was one of the first problems that she experienced when she started taking the medication in October." 46:36 "December was probably the worst month for her, as she described it." 52:41 "She certainly isn't trying to fake that she's hearing all sorts of voices yelling at her and things like that. She's answering honestly, correct?" "Yes."