Lindsay Clancy trial: Opening statements delivered

Senior Digital Editor/Producer, WCVB.com

PLYMOUTH, Mass. —

The defendant’s ex-husband started testimony Monday within the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mom accused of strangling her three youngsters in 2023.

Lindsay Clancy was indicted on three counts every of homicide within the 2023 deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and 8-month-old son Callan. She pleaded not responsible to the fees.

She grew to become a paraplegic after harming herself within the quick aftermath of her youngsters’s deaths.

Patrick Clancy, Lindsay Clancy’s ex-husband and the daddy of the three victims, was the primary witness the state known as to testify.

He recalled the births of every of his youngsters and described his ex-wife’s anxiousness about returning to work, including that Lindsay Clancy was struggling along with her psychological well being and requested to be placed on a medicine for despair.

“She took it for a time frame, and her sleep began to undergo, so she stopped taking it,” he stated.

Patrick Clancy stated she took a complete of seven drugs of the Zoloft prescription she was given earlier than she switched medical suppliers. He stated his ex-wife began coming residence with a number of drugs that had been prescribed by completely different medical doctors and nurse practitioners.

Plymouth County Assistant District Attorneys Jennifer Sprague confirmed Patrick Clancy a plastic bag containing a number of of Lindsay Clancy’s drugs and requested if he was conscious that his spouse solely took a couple of drugs from every bottle, to which he answered “no,” however stated there have been changes made to a few of the prescriptions.

Patrick Clancy stated Lindsay Clancy’s “massive spiral” began in December 2022, throughout which she indicated that she was suicidal and had ideas about harming their youngsters.

“The best way she was describing it was that one thing would possibly occur to the children,” he stated.

He stated his spouse stated she felt that she was “addicted” to the medicine she was taking. The couple then requested her dad and mom to return stick with the household, Patrick Clancy testified. He added that he was not involved for the children’ security.

“She wasn’t exhibiting any intention of harming the children,” he stated.

Lindsay Clancy then sought remedy within the emergency room at Massachusetts Common Hospital after she once more stated she was suicidal, the place suppliers really helpful a postpartum program in Rhode Island. The couple was informed it was not the precise program for Lindsay Clancy, he testified.

Patrick Clancy stated his spouse continued to go to the fitness center and take the couple’s youngsters to their scheduled medical doctors’ appointments throughout the weeks main as much as the kids’s deaths.

The couple once more visited Massachusetts Common Hospital earlier than Lindsay Clancy was transferred to McLean Hospital for psychological well being remedy on Jan. 1, 2023.

Opening statements delivered

The jury of 12 girls and 6 males heard opening statements earlier than testimony started.

Video beneath: Prosecution’s opening assertion

Plymouth County Assistant District Lawyer Shanan Buckingham began by telling the jury the kids had been strangled “meticulously.”

“One after the other, she wrapped train bands round every one of many youngsters’ necks and pulled till their little our bodies had been limp and lifeless,” Buckingham stated.

The state argued Lindsay Clancy understood her actions and made a deliberate alternative.

“She heard a voice, a male voice, a voice that she had by no means heard earlier than, a voice that she had by no means heard once more. That voice informed her it was her final likelihood; she needed to kill her youngsters so she might kill herself. She instantly took motion when she heard the voice with no course or particulars from this so-called voice, and he or she killed the kids,” Buckingham stated.

The state laid out the alleged occasions that led as much as the kids’s deaths on Jan. 24, 2023, and warned the jurors they might hear graphic testimony, as she urged the group to make use of their frequent sense and life experiences as they take heed to the case.

Video beneath: Protection’s opening assertion

Lindsay Clancy’s protection crew plans to make use of the madness protection, arguing that she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was overmedicated on the time of the alleged crimes.

In his opening statements, protection legal professional Kevin Reddington stated his shopper is aware of she killed her youngsters, however questioned what was happening in Lindsay Clancy’s thoughts.

“After the second youngster she had postpartum… You’ll hear proof that was one of many points that was essential as a result of it will probably result in (being) bipolar. One of many issues you do not do if somebody is bipolar, you do not put them on an antidepressant, on Zoloft. It messes together with your mind and it was performed on this case,” Reddington stated.

Reddington confirmed the jury graphic images of Lindsay Clancy within the hospital after she jumped out of her bed room window in an effort to move off any transfer by the prosecution to make the tried suicide look like faux.

Background of the Clancy case:

• Lindsay Clancy faces three homicide prices within the 2023 deaths of her youngsters, Cora, Dawson and Callan.
• She additionally jumped from a second-floor window, leaving her partially paralyzed.
• In a civil case, Clancy alleges a “catastrophic failure” of a number of medical suppliers in diagnosing and treating her psychiatric situation.
• Her trial is scheduled to start on July 20. Though her authorized crew supplied to stipulate to the deaths of the kids, she has pleaded not responsible.
• She is being held at Tewksbury State Hospital.
• The jury is made up of 12 girls and 6 males. They won’t know till the presentation of the case is concluded who will deliberate and who shall be an alternate.

This case entails problems with psychological well being. In the event you or somebody you understand wants assist, you may speak with the Suicide & Disaster Lifeline by calling or sending a textual content message to 988, or you may chat on-line right here.

Preparation for the trial

The protection is planning to argue a scarcity of prison accountability, previously referred to as the madness protection. Lawyer Kevin Reddington stated she was being overmedicated for postpartum psychosis.

Her trial is predicted to final six to eight weeks, and the witness checklist comprises greater than 200 names. Attorneys had been ordered to develop a consolidated witness checklist, which will be proven to the potential jurors to find out if any have prior data of the witnesses.

Sullivan denied Reddington’s request to sequester the jury, however promised to test in with the jurors each day to substantiate they’ve appropriately averted any media protection or analysis exterior of the courtroom.

Earlier than jury choice started Monday, the prosecution raised a priority about a few of the names added to the protection witness checklist. Reddington argued the witnesses might assist Clancy’s protection rebut claims that might be introduced by the prosecution beginning in opening statements, however the choose dominated in favor of the prosecution.

Nevertheless, the choose left the door open to revisit the difficulty ought to one other problem come up throughout the trial.

Costs modified

Earlier this month, prosecutors moved to consolidate a few of the prices, and her attorneys filed motions in anticipation of the jury choice course of.

Courtroom data present the prosecution filed a discover of nolle prosequi on three counts of strangulation or suffocation. NewsCenter 5 checked with the Plymouth County District Lawyer’s workplace, which stated the fees had been “redundant.”

“The murders of the three Clancy youngsters resulted from strangulation. As our movement states, the fees can be subsumed into the homicide prices indicted,” a spokesperson wrote.