Today in court
• The triple-murder trial of Lindsay Clancy resumed for a second day of testimony. The Massachusetts mother’s defense said she should not be held criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan.
• Patrick Clancy, the prosecution’s first witness and a key figure in the case, ended his testimony for the prosecution after he described finding his children fatally injured in January 2023. Under cross-examination, he outlined his ex-wife’s struggles with mental health in the months preceding the killings.
• Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and faces life in prison if convicted. Her attorney has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and extreme mental illness when she killed her children.
Editor’s note: Coverage of this story contains graphic descriptions of child killings, suicidal ideation, and an attempt to die by suicide.
Court is adjourned for the day
Patrick Clancy is off the stand and court is adjourned for the day.
The trial will continue tomorrow morning, the judge said, telling the jury to keep an open mind as he dismissed them.
Lindsay Clancy’s ex-husband continued his testimony for the prosecution this morning, and returned to the stand this afternoon to answer questions from the defense.
He discussed Lindsay Clancy’s experience with medication and trying to find the right treatment and their family life in the months leading up to the killings of their three children.
Drop from second-floor bedroom window to ground is 12 feet, prosecutor says
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked Patrick Clancy on redirect whether he was aware the measurement from the windowsill of the second-floor bedroom to the ground is 12 feet.
“I’ve never measured it, but yeah, I believe what you’re saying,” he answered.
After strangling her children, Lindsay Clancy cut her wrists and throat and jumped from that window, testimony on Monday showed.
"I was not standing next to her every time she took pills," ex-husband says
Lindsay Clancy’s former husband said he believed she always took her prescription medication as directed – but acknowledged that belief was based on what she told him.
“You can’t sit here and say definitively that she took every pill exactly as instructed, every single time, because you didn’t watch her every time, correct?” prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked during re-direct.
“I was not standing next to her every time she took pills,” Patrick Clancy said.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington displayed a notebook where Lindsay Clancy kept track of her medications’ dosages and the time she took them.
“She always took them as instructed,” Patrick Clancy testified then.
Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified the prosecutor questioning Patrick Clancy on re-direct. It was Jennifer Sprague.
Patrick Clancy outlines some medication his ex-wife was prescribed beginning in 2022
Patrick Clancy discussed numerous medications his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy was prescribed during his cross-examination Wednesday afternoon.
One doctor prescribed Lindsay Clancy Zoloft and “it seemed to align with her insomnia symptoms,” her ex-husband testified, describing the insomnia as “a huge problem.”
Lindsay Clancy also saw a couple of nurse practitioners from a practice recommended by Patrick Clancy’s mother, he said. Lindsay Clancy was prescribed Seroquel and a benzodiazepine, Ativan, by one of them, he said.
The meetings took place primarily over Zoom, but the couple did meet with the nurse practitioner in person in early December 2022, he said.
“She was extremely sleep deprived and highly anxious,” he said, confirming under questioning by Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, he had found her on several occasions rocking back-and-forth on the sofa with her head under a pillow.
After that meeting, the nurse practitioner “increased the Seroquel significantly” and “prescribed her Valium to help taper off of the benzos,” Patrick Clancy said.
Patrick Clancy testified Lindsay Clancy’ health seemed to deteriorate in mid-December 2022, after her Seroquel prescription was increased to 400 mg.
Patrick Clancy left kids with then-wife when he was on work trip in months before killings
Lindsay Clancy had sent her then-husband on errands when she strangled their children in January 2023, but her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, pointed out other times he was away in the preceding months.
Patrick Clancy testified he traveled to New York for work in November 2022. He was there for two nights while Lindsay Clancy was home with their three children.
Leading up to January 2023, he confirmed, there were instances where he went out with friends or went skiing while Lindsay Clancy was at home.
“If she wanted to kill the kids, she certainly could have done it that time when you were out, right?” Reddington asked.
“In theory,” Patrick Clancy said.
“As opposed to sending you on a three-minute trip to CVS and a nine-minute trip to a restaurant, you were away for two days in November and on a number of occasions for brunch as well as skiing,” Reddington said.
Prosecutors say Patrick Clancy’s descriptions of how he found his children and the methods Lindsay Clancy used to strangle them is evidence of “deliberate premeditation” and that she acted intentionally and rationally.
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and extreme mental illness when she killed her children.
Patrick Clancy's cross-examination is over
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, has finished his cross-examination of her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy.
Patrick Clancy is now answering follow-up questions from prosecutor Jennifer Sprague.
Bottles with majority of pills left were because prescription changed, Patrick Clancy says
Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney pushed back against the prosecution’s depiction that his client did not take her medications consistently.
The prosecutor questioned Patrick Clancy on Monday about a gallon-size bag of his then-wife’s prescriptions that she had received through at least three providers. Jennifer Sprague of the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office noted it appeared his ex-wife had taken only a fraction of the many pills she was prescribed.
Questioned by defense attorney Kevin Reddington today, Patrick Clancy testified the pill bottles he had in his vehicle — the ones entered into evidence by the prosecution — were intended to be discarded.
“The reason I had them in a bag is because sometimes a provider would adjust medications,” he said. “They would say, ‘Give that old prescription to your husband. He’ll discard it, and then continue taking from the new prescription.’”
Reddington pointed out Lindsay Clancy kept a detailed log in a journal of the medication and dosage she would take.
Lindsay Clancy “got worse” in December 2022 before medical center visits, ex-husband says
Lindsay Clancy “got worse” in December after a doctor increased her dosage of Seroquel, her former husband testified.
She visited the Center for Women’s Behavioral Health at Women’s and Infant’s Hospital in Rhode Island on December 20, 2022, Patrick Clancy said. Later that day, his then-wife told him she needed to be picked up and the doctors wanted to speak with him, he testified.
Judge William Sullivan sustained an objection to a question about his conversation with the doctors.
Patrick Clancy said he believed the doctors tried to provide counseling to his then-wife, but “they felt that it wasn’t the right fit.”
He picked Lindsay Clancy up from the facility and returned home, but he said she returned to a different facility within a couple weeks. On New Year’s, she went to a locked-ward facility in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Lindsay Clancy’s former husband said people there were just “hanging around, watching TV, playing with clay.” The doctor at the facility recommended Lindsay Clancy begin taking a certain medication but didn’t prescribe any, he said.
When she was discharged from the hospital, it was not against medical advice, Patrick Clancy confirmed.
“She had a five day stay, which, at the time, my understanding was that was pretty standard,” he said, adding his then-wife also wanted to be present for their oldest child’s upcoming birthday.
Here's how Lindsay Clancy tracked her medications, according to her ex-husband
Linsday Clancy always took her medications as instructed and kept track with a journal, her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, testified today.
Being questioned by the defense now, Patrick Clancy confirmed his then-wife kept track of the dosage, type of medication and time of day she took them, and any reaction she had in the journal. She kept this documentation in the kitchen, he testified.
“To your observation, how dedicated was she to taking her medications as instructed by her numerous doctors she ultimately saw?” Kevin Reddington, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, asked.
“She always took them as instructed,” Patrick Clancy said.
Monday, during the state’s questioning of Patrick Clancy, prosecutors noted it appeared his ex-wife had taken only a fraction of the many pills she had been prescribed. Patrick Clancy testified he was not aware of how much medication his wife had or had not taken.
Reddington also showed a photo of a stack of books in a cabinet in their house.
One book in the cabinet is called “Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts,” Reddington said, though Patrick Clancy testified he doesn’t recall seeing it around the house.
Nearly every room in Clancy home was dedicated to their children, ex-husband says
Jurors saw a series of photos taken inside the Clancys’ home as Lindsay Clancy’s then-husband described her as a dedicated mother who “did everything” for their family.
Lindsay Clancy took hundreds of photos of their children, Patrick Clancy testified, some of which she posted on social media. She made a collage showing each child’s growth that she then hung inside their house, he said.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington displayed photos from inside the family home showing colorful homemade paintings and decals of cartoon characters that Patrick Clancy said his then-wife hung on the walls.
“There was a lot of art projects, stickers, things like that,” her former husband said.
Patrick Clancy confirmed nearly every room in their house was dedicated to their three children.
Jurors saw a photo of the home’s “playroom,” which was filled with toys. A piece of art saying “It’s a wonderful life” hung on a wall.
She was a "very dedicated" mother, Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband says
Patrick Clancy took the stand again after lunch for a cross-examination by Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington.
She had anxiety about returning to work after having children because “she struggled to be away from our kids at a young age,” Patrick Clancy testified.
“She was very dedicated, she did everything,” he said when describing how she was as a mother.
“She started reading them books at three months,” Patrick Clancy said. “She used to make green eggs and ham for Cora because she liked that book.”
Lindsay Clancy's former husband is back on the stand
Patrick Clancy, the former husband of Lindsay Clancy, is back on the stand for cross-examination by his ex-wife’s attorney.
The questioning resumed after a two hour recess. Before the break, jurors heard testimony from two other witnesses, a pharmacy manager and a restaurant employee.
Court is back in session
Court is back in session for the triple-murder trial of Lindsay Clancy.
The prosecution is expected to continue presenting its case. Earlier today, the jury heard continued testimony from Patrick Clancy, Linsday Clancy’s ex-husband and the father of the slain children.
Prosecutors also called two others who testified about Patrick Clancy’s errands that night.
Court is in recess until 2 p.m.
The court is taking a recess until 2 p.m. ET, Judge William F. Sullivan said.
“Remember I said today was going to be full of a couple starts and stops? This is gonna be one of those stops,” he told the jury.
In the last several minutes, the prosecution called two witnesses — the manager at the CVS store and the then-hostess at ThreeV, a restaurant Patrick Clancy visited on the night his kids were fatally strangled.
Restaurant hostess called to stand as prosecution's third witness
The third witness called to the stand by the commonwealth was Saria Sweeney, a hostess at the ThreeV restaurant.
Sweeney testified she took a takeout order call from a woman on January 24, 2023, for a risotto and a Mediterranean power bowl, and identified Patrick Clancy as the person who picked the order up.
The woman on the phone did not sound impaired or seem to have trouble understanding Sweeney’s questions as she took the order, she testified.
Lindsay Clancy’s defense did not cross-examine her.
Prosecutors call a pharmacy manager as their second witness
Pharmacy manager Angela Krause took the stand as the prosecution’s second witness after a recess that lasted more than an hour.
Krause said she answered a call from a woman on January 24, 2023, asking about a children’s medication – the same medicine Patrick Clancy said he intended to pick up from the pharmacy.
The conversation lasted a few minutes, Krause said, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “It was a very normal interaction,” she said.
While he was at the pharmacy, Patrick Clancy said, he briefly talked to his then-wife on the phone around the time she killed their kids.
Later that night, Krause gave police surveillance footage of Patrick Clancy in the pharmacy and a receipt from his purchase, she said.
What we learned from Patrick Clancy's testimony in court this morning
Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, who is on trial for killing their three children, described the day the children were killed. The jury heard audio of the 911 call he made. He left the stand without being questioned by the defense, but the judge told him he might be called back as a witness later in the trial.
Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, and her attorney has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and extreme mental illness when she killed her children before trying to kill herself.
Here’s what else we learned from testimony this morning:
- While at a pharmacy, Patrick Clancy said, he briefly talked to his then-wife on the phone at about the time she killed their kids.
- When he returned from running errands, Patrick Clancy said the house was unusually quiet. He checked the house and found that the door to the bedroom was locked – and “that’s when I knew something was wrong.”
- Patrick Clancy said he found Lindsay Clancy lying face-up in their backyard after she jumped out of the window of their second-floor bedroom. She had “deep cuts on her wrists, and she had a red line across her neck,” he said, and there was “blood everywhere in the bedroom.”
- After Patrick Clancy asked where their three children were, his then-wife told him they were in the basement, he testified. She did not mention the children were injured or needed help, he said.
- After he found Lindsay Clancy in the backyard, Patrick Clancy called 911. Once first responders arrived, he ran to the basement. The 911 call was played for the jury, but not broadcast externally. Lindsay Clancy leaned forward, held her head in her hands and sobbed as it played.
- When he got to the basement, Patrick Clancy said he found all three of his children with exercise bands around their necks. He testified he went back to his oldest daughter, Cora, and tried to give her CPR before first responders entered the basement.
- Lindsay Clancy said she “heard a man’s voice” the day she fatally strangled their three children, Patrick Clancy testified. She called her then-husband from a hospital about a week after the children were killed, he said, and talked about what she went through.
CNN’s Andi Babineau and Nicki Brown contributed reporting to this post.
She "tried very hard to get the help she needed," Lindsay Clancy's attorney said
Lindsay Clancy was a dedicated nurse and mother who “tried very hard to get the help she needed,” her defense attorney told jurors Monday.
Clancy was a labor-and-delivery nurse who named her oldest child, Cora, after the first baby she delivered at work, Kevin Reddington said in his opening statement.
But “things went sideways” for Clancy in the fall of 2022, months before the killings, Reddington said. Clancy suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth and was prescribed multiple medications from at least three different doctors, he said.
Clancy also had several hospital stays, including one program specializing in postpartum issues, he said.
Court is now in recess
Court is now in a break after Judge William Sullivan called a recess.
This morning, jurors heard the 911 call Patrick Clancy made after his then-wife cut her neck and jumped out of a window. Jurors also heard the father describe finding his children after they were fatally injured.
A prosecutor showed the jury the clothes the children were wearing the day they were killed and the exercise resistance bands used to strangle them.
Lindsay Clancy said she “heard a man’s voice,” ex-husband says
Lindsay Clancy said she “heard a man’s voice” the day she fatally strangled their three children, Patrick Clancy testified.
Lindsay Clancy called her then-husband from a hospital about a week after the children were killed, he said.
“She didn’t talk about our kids, she talked about what she went through,” Patrick Clancy testified. “She said she heard a man’s voice telling her that if she didn’t do it now, she would lose her chance – or something like that.”
Lindsay Clancy had never mentioned hearing a man’s voice before, he said, and she had not mentioned wanting to harm or kill their children in January 2023.
On Monday, Patrick Clancy testified his then-wife told him she was suicidal and had “intrusive thoughts” about hurting their children around December 2022. He was not concerned for their safety at that time because Lindsay Clancy didn’t show “any intention” of harming them, he testified.
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