Trial of Lindsay Clancy, Duxbury mother charged with murders of her 3 children, gets underway

Jury selection in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the mother charged with killing her three children in Duxbury, Massachusetts, got underway Monday in Plymouth Superior Court.

Clancy, 35, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children - 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan - at her home on Jan. 24, 2023.

Judge William Sullivan is overseeing the trial, which is expected to last six to eight weeks. Sullivan plans to seat 18 people on the jury.

A pool of about 130 potential jurors was brought in Monday to start the day. They filled out a questionnaire about their mental health history and whether they knew any of the potential witnesses. Then prospective jurors were questioned individually and either added to the jury or sent home.

Lindsay Clancy, who was paralyzed after jumping out a window in an attempt to take her own life the night of the murders, was sitting in her wheelchair in the courtroom Monday. She was seated at the witness stand while individual jurors were questioned by the judge and attorneys, so she could hear the conversations. 

During day one of jury selection, about 55 people were questioned and five were seated on they jury, two men and three women.

"I think if you're only seating five people out of 55, it's giving you an indication of how hard it is to find a juror that can listen to this case impartially," WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman said.

The judge asked each prospective juror first about scheduling, and many were excused because they could not commit to the entire trial. They were also asked by the judge if they understood that Lindsay Clancy does not have to testify, if they can be fair and impartial, and if they can treat all witnesses the same, like police and lay witnesses.

Several women were excused from the jury who spoke out loud about being a mother and how hard it would be to listen to the evidence in this case.

"That is going to touch a chord with many, many people," Roman said. "And that is going to make it harder, too, for somebody to sit through the evidence and hear some of these very gruesome and traumatic details about how these children died."

Clancy has been receiving treatment at Tewksbury Hospital the last three years. During court appearances, she rides with nurses for the 64-mile trip. 

Prosecutors said Clancy planned the murders. She allegedly asked her husband Patrick to go pick up medication for their kids and get takeout food in nearby Plymouth so that he wouldn't be home. Investigators said she researched how long the trip would take so she would know how much time she would have alone with the children.

Patrick Clancy found his children's bodies. He is expected to testify in the trial.

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney Kevin Reddington alleges she suffered from serious postpartum mental health issues. In a civil lawsuit filed against her former doctors, Clancy's husband claimed she was overmedicated to the point of hearing voices.  

Reddington previously said, "It's important for people to realize she was a great mother," describing Lindsay Clancy's mental health issues as "a toxic soup."

During a final pretrial hearing on July 13, Judge Sullivan denied Clancy's motion to call witnesses who have personal experience with postpartum psychosis. The judge sided with prosecutors, who argued that the women had no connection to the case and said their testimony would be prejudicial.

There is a potential witness list of about 200 people. Roman said that given the lengthy list of potential witnesses, it could be a long trial. That is why, she said, there is a larger than normal jury being selected.

"Things can come up for jurors, real life things that they cannot avoid and cannot help. So by having 18 jurors in that jury box, the judge is guaranteeing that even if people cannot continue to serve on that jury for whatever reason, there will be sufficient jurors who heard the testimony and then can join the deliberations," Roman said.