Full story
Children found after murder
In Plymouth Superior Court, first responders testified in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial about what they found at her family's home in Duxbury after she killed her three children and tried to end her life.
“only 8-month-old Callan had a faint pulse”
Officer Stephen Hall testified that he arrived to find Patrick Clancy yelling for help from behind the home, and that when officers followed the sound downstairs, only 8-month-old Callan had a faint pulse, Josephine testified.
Hall described discovering Dawson, 3, in the basement, and said he later learned the other children were Cora, 5, and Callan, 8 months, with all three children dying by strangulation with exercise bands.
Duxbury firefighter and paramedic Jennifer Stratton testified that the infant never regained a pulse, and fire department supervisor P.J. Hussey told the jury, "It turned very chaotic very quickly" as more ambulances rushed to the house.
Postpartum psychosis dispute
The trial has centered on Lindsay Clancy's mental state, with prosecutors arguing she acted intentionally and is criminally responsible, while her defense says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and is not criminally responsible.
In opening statements, Plymouth County assistant district attorney Shanan Buckingham told the jury, "People with mental illness commit crimes everyday and are responsible for them," and the defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued Clancy was suffering from "psychosis" and that she "did not get the medication, did not get the medical treatment that she so deserved."
ABC News reported that Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges tied to the deaths of Cora, Dawson, and Callan at her family's home in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023, and that she is currently being held at a state hospital.
ABC7 Los Angeles reported that Clancy's lawyers do not dispute she strangled the children with exercise bands, but say she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, and it quoted her lawyer saying she told him a voice said, "This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself," according to her lawyer.
What happens next in court
As testimony continued, the defense and prosecution framed the same night differently, with ABC7 Los Angeles saying jurors heard about Clancy drifting in and out of consciousness in the snow after jumping from her Massachusetts home's second-floor window.
“If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole.”
The Boston Globe reported that Judge William Sullivan dismissed jurors for the day and instructed them to return Friday morning for a view of the crime scene, while first responders described giving chest compressions and rescue breaths to the children in the basement.
ABC7 Los Angeles said if convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole, and if found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
WJAR reported that testimony wrapped up early Thursday and that jurors will visit the former Clancy home on Summer Street, and a CVS store and a restaurant that Patrick Clancy went to that night, with South Shore Hospital workers expected on the stand in the afternoon.
