Lindsay Clancy spoke on the record Tuesday during her murder trial for the first time since it began last week — responding to the judge’s questions in a twist that could speed up proceedings that were expected to drag on for up to two months.
The Massachusetts mother, 35, doesn’t contest that she strangled her three young children while experiencing a slew of postpartum mental illnesses in January 2023.
On Monday, the 18-person jury (12 jurors and six alternates) heard excerpts from a diary that Clancy, 35, kept in the months leading up to the horrific killings — in which she describes being “completely overwhelmed” and “desperate to get a mental break from taking care of everyone” while she grappled with “horrible insomnia and anxiety.”
Clancy, who tried to take her own life after strangling her kids, is charged with three counts of murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
Court has wrapped for the day, but keep reading for new details and evidence pics revealed Tuesday at the Lindsay Clancy trial:
Jury dismissed for day after testimony from 8 witnesses
Judge William Sullivan dismissed the jury for the day following testimony from eight witnesses, including forensic scientists, cops and a doctor.
The jury is due back at 9 a.m. and they are only expected to sit through a half day of testimony Wednesday so the lawyers can work things out with the judge in the afternoon, Sullivan has said.
Blood stain analysis expert testifies about blood at Lindsay Clancy’s home
Sherri Crook, a blood stain analysis expert, is testifying about blood stains in Lindsay Clancy’s home found after she killed her three kids.
She analyzed blood found on a rug in the basement and blood found throughout Clancy’s bedroom.
Clancy cut her wrists and neck after strangling the children and then threw herself out of the window of her bedroom, leaving blood behind all over the room.
Toxicologists confirms Lindsay Clancy’s three kids tested negative for any drugs, other substances
Alicia Zimmerman, a toxicologist called to the stand by prosecutors, briefly testified that Lindsay Clancy’s three children all tested negative for substances and drugs.
Clancy strangled her three kids: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan.
Lindsay Clancy’s stipulation agreement with prosecutors won’t be made public — for now at least
The details of the so-called “stipulation” agreement that Lindsay Clancy reached with prosecutors this morning won’t be made public for the moment.
The agreement — in which Clancy conceded certain facts tied to DNA and blood and their chain of custody — won’t be privy to the public unless it’s introduced to the jury, according to a report by NBC 10 Boston, citing the court clerk.
Trial breaks for lunch as judge tells jurors they will hear from ‘couple more witnesses’ in afternoon
Judge William Sullivan dismissed the jury for a lunch break after letting them know they would hear from “a couple more witnesses” this afternoon.
They are scheduled to come back from lunch around 2 p.m.
Defense questions why toxicologists took the stand after morning agreement that established facts
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer questioned why another toxicologist was called by prosecutors after the accused murderer agreed to certain facts of the case this morning.
“Basically, as the court knows, we agree to this, we stipulate to all of this,” Kevin Reddington said as he stood up to cross-examine toxicologist Lisa Yelle.
He said the sides agree to “the blood, the chain of custody, the testing.”
Then the lawyer asked Yelle, “It was a good test, right?”
She confirmed the test was accurate.
This morning, Clancy and prosecutors entered into what’s called a “stipulation of facts,” meaning the defendant wouldn’t contest the facts around DNA, blood and chain of custody issues in hopes of foregoing dozens of witnesses — which could notably speed up the trial that attorneys have said could take as long as eight weeks.
Lindsay Clancy’s blood, urine tested positive for several prescription drugs after killing kids
Forensic scientist Hillary Griffiths, who works in the toxicology unit of the Massachusetts State Police crime lab, just told jurors that she processed Lindsay Clancy’s blood and urine, which tested positive for several psychiatric prescription drugs, after she killed her kids.
Clancy had Seroquel (an antipsychotic) and benzodiazepines including Ativan in her blood, among a few other prescription drugs, Griffiths said.
The mentally ill mother swallowed prescription pills from her nightstand after strangling the children, and before throwing herself out of a second-story window.
The labor and delivery nurse, 35, kept meticulous records of the medications she was taking, the dosages and their effects on her mood and state of mind.
In notes from December 2022, the month before Clancy killed her children, she wrote four days in a row that Seroquel, combined with Valium, relieved the insomnia she had been suffering (“slept well”) — but also brought on “HORRIBLE THOUGHTS.”
Both Lindsay Clancy and Patrick Clancy, her husband at the time and father of her children, have filed lawsuits claiming her doctors failed to properly diagnose her and overmedicated her.
Patrick sued his ex-wife’s doctors for $1 million early this year, around the third anniversary of Cora, Dawson and Callan’s killings, for “overmedicating” the struggling postpartum mother.
Days later, Lindsay filed suit against hospitals, doctors and a nurse who treated her in the lead-up to her horrific act on Jan. 24, 2023, alleging that the “polypharmacy” of people and organizations tending to her all failed to properly diagnose her with bipolar disorder brought on by her third pregnancy.
The supposed failed diagnosis wound up “[exacerbating] her condition and precipitated a severe psychotic break,” she claims in the suit.
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer snaps at state trooper during testimony
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, snapped at Massachusetts State Trooper Jonathan O’Loughlin during his cross-examination.
O’Loughlin said during direct testimony by prosecutors that he collected a cell phone, knife and exercise bands from Clancy’s home but he wasn’t able to recover any fingerprints.
When Reddington asked him if he found any fingerprints on cross-examination, O’Loughlin confirmed he hadn’t.
“You could have just said that!” the defense attorney snapped.
Judge William Sullivan then sustained an objection from the prosecutors.
During O’Loughlin’s direct testimony, Reddington objected to his testimony on the grounds that Clancy stipulating to facts in the case this morning, meant the testimony wasn’t needed.
Sullivan allowed O’Loughlin to continue testifying, finding it helped give the jurors context.
Exercise bands used to kill Clancy kids were swabbed to determine if Lindsay was the only person who touched them: witness
Forensic scientist Maureen Hartnett was called back to the stand after the morning break, where she told jurors she took DNA swabs of the elastic bands Lindsay Clancy used to strangle her three kids.
Hartnett collected the three exercise bands, taking samples from the handles and from the center of the bands to see who was holding them and if anyone else came in contact with the center of the bands, she explained.
Jury dismissed for morning break following testimony from three witnesses
The jury was dismissed for a morning break following testimony from three witnesses this morning.
Forensic scientist, cop recount collecting blood samples, pills at Clancy crime scene
A forensic scientist is currently on the witness stand testifying about collecting blood samples from Lindsay Clancy’s wrists as well as from her home.
Maureen Hartnett, who works in the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, told jurors about swabbing the “red-brown stains” on Clancy’s wrists, then collected samples from blood around her bedroom and in her basement, where Cora, Dawson and Callan were strangled.
Hartnett also took samples from under Clancy’s fingernails and collected the clothes that were taken off Clancy at the hospital, she said.
The mother of three slit her wrists and neck, and swallowed prescription pills, before throwing herself out of her second-story bedroom window after she murdered her kids.
Prior to Hartnett’s testimony, Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Joseph Rabbitt told the jury about a search warrant for collecting evidence from Clancy’s Duxbury home.
He was questioned about several prescriptions taken from her home and about how many pills were left in each bottle.
Sleep training baby Callan made Lindsay Clancy ‘want to die,’ she told husband: journal
Shortly before trial wrapped Monday, the jury heard Lindsay Clancy’s attorney read heartbreaking excerpts from one of many journals she kept in the months before killing her children.
Sleep training her youngest, baby Callan, at around six months old was tearing her apart — though it was apparently necessary, as Clancy also wrote that she was suffering from “horrible insomnia and anxiety.”
“Hearing him cry for one-plus hours and not intervening just about killed me,” Clancy wrote, adding that she had told her husband, Patrick, “I want to die,” while Callan was crying.
“I even said the words, ‘I wanna die,’ to Pat while he was crying,” the “completely overwhelmed” mother wrote.
A large portrait of the now-divorced couple from an undated maternity photoshoot has been on display in the courtroom for several days of the trial, sticking out of a bin belonging to one of the attorneys.
