Crime24 July, 20263 min read
Judge William Sullivan Bars Media From Patrick Clancy 911 Call, Autopsy Photos in Lindsay Clancy Trial
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Judge Sullivan bars media from recording Patrick Clancy's 911 call and the children's autopsy photos. Access to the 911 recording and autopsy imagery is restricted to court viewing only.
Evidence shielded by judge
A Massachusetts judge, William Sullivan, partially granted a grieving father’s request to shield some of the most graphic evidence in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, ruling that the media and public may not record, display, reproduce, distribute, or otherwise disseminate Patrick Clancy’s initial 911 call or autopsy photographs of Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy.
Sullivan wrote that the court finds that any such access, recording, display, reproduction, distribution, or other dissemination by the media "will create a substantial likelihood of harm" or "other harmful consequences" to Patrick Clancy and the children’s family.
The charges stem from the January 2023 deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, after prosecutors alleged Clancy strangled the children inside their Duxbury, Massachusetts home before attempting to take her own life.
Patrick Clancy’s 911 call is expected to provide jurors with an account of what he encountered after returning to the family’s home on Jan. 24, 2023, when the children were found unresponsive.
The trial is set to begin Monday in Plymouth Superior Court, where opening statements are expected to be given after the jury was seated with 12 women and six men.
Insanity defense and clashes
As the case moved toward opening statements, defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that the circumstances of the act are "not in dispute" and pressed for limits on how many police and EMTs testify about what they saw at the crime scene. Reddington told the court that the district attorney’s intent was "to put a circus in front of this jury that’s calculated to just inflame the passions of the jury," while assistant district attorney Jennifer Sprague said it is typical for witnesses to describe a crime scene. Sprague responded to the defense’s push by saying, "The Commonwealth did not choose the number of victims, the defendant did," and she added that it is "the Commonwealth presenting the evidence in this case" to prove Clancy killed the children and the manner of their deaths.
Clancy, who is accused of killing her three children before jumping out of a second-story window at her family’s home in Duxbury, is being held in a state hospital while her criminal case is pending. WBUR reported that Sullivan said he would determine during trial when to limit descriptions that are "needlessly cumulative," after the judge cut off Sprague’s argument about reducing witnesses.
What jurors will hear
Prosecutors plan to argue that Clancy carefully planned and plotted her actions by sending her husband out of the house before strangling their three children, with Patrick Clancy expected to be the first witness to testify. People reported that Patrick Clancy called 911 after returning home and discovering his wife had jumped out the window of their second-story bedroom, and that he discovered the couple’s three children had all been strangled with exercise bands. People also said the two oldest, Cora and Dawson, were pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital, while the youngest, 8-month-old Callan, died a few days later.
In court, Patrick Clancy’s attorney, David Meier, asked for limited access to the children’s autopsy records, Patrick’s 911 call and crime-scene images, and People reported that Patrick has remarried and now lives in New York with his second wife. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks in Plymouth Superior Court, and CBS News said opening statements are expected on Monday followed by the start of witness testimony.