The courtroom gallery was packed with spectators by the final week of witness testimony in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, with people lining up before sunrise to secure seats.
Many of the dozens in the gallery said they were motivated to attend by the hundreds of women who had demonstrated on the courthouse lawn the week before to draw attention to what they said were the failures of the mental health care system for mothers. Others were there simply because they wanted to watch a historic trial.
Meagan Johnson, 35, of Bourne, Mass., said she began attending because of her own experiences with postpartum mental health difficulties.
“I think the protest brought a lot more public attention and people realizing that they can be here showing their support,” she said.
During breaks, women talked with one another in the hallway about their experiences, including how the mental health care system had failed them as mothers, or in general.
“I want to know what their stories are and share mine,” said Cara Fallon, a 41-year-old forensic nurse from Lowell, Mass., who had recently begun attending the trial in person.
Ms. Fallon said on Aug. 25 she was frustrated listening to the prosecution’s expert witnesses, who were men that day, talking about women’s health care and postpartum.
“There are some doctors that talk with such confidence, but that doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about,” Ms. Fallon said, adding, “You have to experience it.”
One attendee brought a medical companion dog, who is a French bulldog pug, and flowers for Ms. Clancy’s parents. The dog was allowed into the courtroom, but the flowers were not permitted.
Despite deep divisions about the trial across the country, the crowd that watched the case wind down from the courtroom’s public gallery tilted strongly in favor of the defense.
Outside the courthouse, as the jury resumed deliberations on Aug. 28, a woman stood wearing all white. She said she came to simply show reverence for the three Clancy children who were strangled by their mother, because she didn’t feel like enough people were.
The audience sat for hours of testimony that ebbed between brutal and affecting, and technical and dense.
There were also moments of disruption.
On one day, an audience member provided running comments. The man said, “Let’s go, killer,” as Ms. Clancy’s chief defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, began to cross-examine a forensic psychologist. He was loud enough for the rows around him to hear, but not so loud that the judge and security officials could.
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