Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband Patrick to testify first in trial of mother charged with murders of 3 kids in Massachusetts

The trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury, Massachusetts mother charged with the murders of her three children, will begin with opening statements and testimony from her ex-husband Patrick Monday in Plymouth Superior Court.

You can watch the start of the trial live on CBS News Boston in the embedded video at 9 a.m.

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 - in the family's home on Jan. 24, 2023, before trying to take her own life.  

Clancy admits to killing her children, according to her attorney Kevin Reddington, but he claims she was overmedicated for postpartum mental health issues and had a moment of psychosis.

Eighteen jurors - 12 women and six men - will hear the case before Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan Monday.

Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband Patrick Clancy is expected to be the first witness the prosecution calls to the stand when testimony starts. Patrick Clancy was the first person to find the children that night.

"Why would a loving, devoted mother do this is the million-dollar question that both sides need to answer for that jury," said WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is accused of strangling her three children with exercise bands.

"Both sides are going to lean into the very gruesome nature of this alleged crime. But they're going to take a very different approach," Roman said.

"The prosecution is going to show signs that they think show premeditation, that she had been planning this and thinking about it and being methodical about it. The defense is going to throw the question, I think, back at the jury. How could somebody that's otherwise been known to be a loving and devoted mother, a caregiver, how could she have done this to her children unless she was suffering from a mental defect."

When the prosecution calls Patrick Clancy to the stand, Roman believes prosecutor Jennifer Sprague will focus on the tragedy of the case.

"They want to seize that jury pool and say, 'this is what it looks like. This is the aftermath,'" Roman said. She expects the defense to also target the emotion, but from a different angle while questioning Clancy's ex-husband.

"Patrick Clancy has historically, from what we've seen, been very sympathetic and supportive of Lindsay Clancy, even coming out earlier on and saying she couldn't have done this unless she was suffering from some type of psychosis," Roman said.

On Friday, a judge approved Patrick Clancy's motion to suppress media access to his 911 call and pictures of his deceased children at the trial. The photos and call will be presented to the jury.

Jury selection, which took four days, was emotional at times as candidates were asked about their families' experience with psychiatrists, psychologists, or mental health facilities. Potential jurors were also asked about exposure to postpartum depression and bipolar disorder.

On the night of the children's deaths, Clancy was paralyzed when she jumped out of a window in an attempt to take her own life. She appears in court in a wheelchair, and has been receiving treatment at Tewksbury State Hospital since January 2023.

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. A list of potential witnesses has nearly 200 names on it.

If Clancy is found guilty, she faces life in prison without a chance at parole. If she's found not criminally responsible, she will be sent to a state mental health facility.