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A jury has been seated in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children inside the family’s home while suffering from what her attorneys say was severe postpartum psychosis.
The panel of 12 women and six men was finalized Thursday in Plymouth Superior Court, clearing the way for opening statements Monday. The trial is expected to center not on whether Clancy, 32, caused the children’s deaths, but whether she was legally responsible for her actions.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at at the prestigious Mass General Hospital, has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder and strangulation in the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.
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Her attorneys do not dispute that she killed the children but plan to argue that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and lacked criminal responsibility. Prosecutors allege the killings were intentional and carefully planned.
“It is usually a hard battle to win,” criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor Donna Rotunno told Fox News Digital of the defense’s insanity bid. “But given the fact that she has such a documented history of treatment and going to doctors and being diagnosed and seeking out more treatment when she wasn’t doing well, I think she can lay the groundwork for it.”
Rotunno said Clancy’s attorneys are likely to emphasize that her condition allegedly continued to deteriorate even as she sought medical help.
“She continued to get worse. She continued to seek treatment,” Rotunno said, pointing to reports that Clancy discussed hearing voices and was prescribed several medications before the children’s deaths.
Clancy’s prior work as a nurse could cut both ways at trial. Prosecutors may argue that her medical background made her more capable of understanding her treatment and actions, but Rotunno said the defense could use the same fact to demonstrate the severity of her alleged psychosis.
“She was a nurse and still so out of it that she didn’t know she shouldn’t be taking all this stuff,” Rotunno said. “That, to me, doesn’t play into the intention on this. It’s the total opposite.”
Authorities said Patrick Clancy left the family’s Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023, to pick up takeout food and an item from a pharmacy.
While he was gone, prosecutors allege, Lindsay Clancy used exercise bands to strangle the children before jumping from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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The fall left her paralyzed, and she now uses a wheelchair.
Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead after being taken to a Plymouth hospital. Callan was flown to Boston Children’s Hospital and died several days later. The medical examiner determined that Cora and Dawson died from asphyxia and that Callan died from complications of asphyxia.
Clancy’s mental condition in the months and weeks before the killings are expected to become the central battleground at trial.
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Her attorneys say she sought help repeatedly as she struggled with depression, sleeplessness, suicidal thoughts and voices urging her to harm herself and the children.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital weeks before the deaths and was prescribed several medications as providers attempted to treat her worsening symptoms.
According to lawsuits filed by Lindsay and Patrick Clancy against her medical providers, she heard a voice on the day of the killings telling her it was her “last chance” to kill the children and herself.
The lawsuits accuse her providers of failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor a severe postpartum psychiatric condition.
Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan ruled Friday that the media and public may not record, display, reproduce or distribute Patrick Clancy’s initial 911 call or autopsy photographs of the children.
The ruling came after Patrick requested that the evidence be shielded by media dissemination.
Reporters may also describe what is heard or shown in court but cannot broadcast or publish the recording or images themselves, according to the two-page order.
The privacy dispute produced a heated courtroom exchange Thursday after the jury was seated.
Patrick Clancy asked Sullivan to limit the public and media’s ability to record, broadcast or distribute his initial 911 call, family and crime-scene photographs of the children, autopsy images and the clothing the children were wearing.
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His attorney, David Meier, said the request was not intended to close the courtroom, prevent jurors from seeing the evidence or interfere with either side’s case. Instead, he argued that allowing the materials to circulate online would cause lasting emotional harm to Patrick Clancy.
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Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, supported Patrick’s request and accused prosecutors of planning to present the evidence in a manner designed to “inflame” the jury.
“Even though we’re in a court, let’s talk a little bit about humanity,” Reddington said. “Let’s talk a little bit about how we should try this case.”
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Reddington said Patrick had suffered “one of the worst tragedies that anyone could ever suffer” and was attempting to rebuild his life.
“How that guy is still not an emotional basket case is beyond me. But nevertheless, he is trying hard to move on with his life. He has, as the court is aware, divorced. He’s remarried. He has a family. He has his extended family,” he said.
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Reddington accused the prosecution of trying “to put a circus in front of this jury” and later called its approach “reprehensible.”
“The district attorney wants to put that guy on the witness stand and show little onesies with bodily fluid of his child?” he said.
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Sullivan interrupted and reminded Reddington that the issue before the court was whether the media could record or distribute the evidence, rather than whether prosecutors could introduce it at trial.
Sprague began responding that the defense wanted to “rush past what happened to these children” and “whitewash away what happened,” but Sullivan cut off the exchange.
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Reddington argued that calling one first responder after another would produce cumulative testimony intended primarily to stir jurors’ emotions.
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“The Commonwealth did not choose the number of victims. The defendant did,” Sprague responded. “The Commonwealth did not choose the ages of the victims. The defendant did.”
Opening statements are scheduled for Monday morning at 9 a.m.
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