Commonwealth v. Clancy, July 27, 2026: Patrick Clancy

Commonwealth v. Clancy, July 27, 2026

MondayreportedcommonwealthDay 1 of 28

Jury sworn, preliminary instructions including the criminal responsibility standard, and opening statements from both sides, followed by the Commonwealth's first witness, Patrick Clancy, who was still on direct examination when the judge ended the day about an hour early. Court did not sit the following day; testimony resumed Wednesday.

Key points

THE EXAMINER IS PROBABLY NOT WHO THIS PAGE SAID. CBS Boston, WBUR and boston.com all report ADA Jennifer Sprague conducting Patrick Clancy's examination, and CBS Boston calls her the lead prosecutor on the case. The Boston Globe does not name the examiner. Buckingham is reported only as giving the Commonwealth's opening. An earlier version of this entry recorded the direct as Buckingham's; that is not supported by any outlet read for this compilation.
The criminal responsibility standard was given to the jury before a word of evidence. The Boston Globe records Sullivan setting out both prongs — appreciating criminality or wrongfulness, and conforming conduct to the requirements of the law — in the preliminary charge at about 10:03. The only live issue in the case was framed for the jury by the judge on the first morning.
AGAINST THE COMMONWEALTH, FROM THE COMMONWEALTH'S OWN FIRST WITNESS. Patrick Clancy described an illness that got steadily worse from October 2022, a medication change in December he called awful and identified as where the spiral began, repeated help-seeking, a Providence day program that lasted a single day, and a five-day McLean admission that did not look to him like treatment. That is much of the defense's narrative, delivered on direct examination by the prosecution's first witness.
AGAINST THE DEFENSE, FROM THE SAME WITNESS. He never heard her describe a voice. She had no plan. She told him she did not need to be kept away from the children. He never saw her harm them and was not worried about their safety. And on the day itself, he said she was having one of her best days.
The Commonwealth pre-empted the overmedication defense on direct rather than waiting for cross. Sprague walked Patrick Clancy through pill counts — seven Zoloft, six of thirty Ativan, bottles with only a few tablets gone — and put to him that a lot was prescribed and not much taken. He conceded it might be right. This is the Commonwealth's answer to the defense's prescribing case, and it was made in the first hours of evidence.
The second Commonwealth line was normal functioning in January 2023: the birthday party, the Museum of Science, the water park video, the ski day, the weekend at her parents', the friend's dinner. Sprague drew out that he had repeatedly left the children alone with her in that period and asked him why he had been comfortable doing so.
Buckingham's opening pre-answered the command hallucination before the defense had called anyone: the voice stopped once the children were dead, and the jury should weigh the source, the timing and the substance of Clancy's statements about it. The reliability of that report — not whether Clancy killed the children — is where the Commonwealth put the case from the first morning.
Reddington conceded the acts in the defense opening, more than a week before the formal stipulation of August 4. He told jurors Clancy knew she had killed the children and that the issue was what was happening in her mind.
Reddington told jurors that in December Clancy told her husband, in her mother's presence, that she was having psychosis and thoughts of hurting the children. Patrick Clancy's own testimony that day described the disclosure of thoughts of harming the children but not of psychosis, and he said she never described hearing a voice. The defense opening and the witness's account of the same conversation are not identical.
The day ended about an hour early and no outlet reports a reason. The Boston Globe notes Sullivan gave none, that a sidebar preceded it, and that prosecutors appeared poised to play the 911 call. CBS Boston reports only that Tuesday's dark day was for something unrelated to the case.
The media restriction matters for the record itself: the 911 call and the children's autopsy photographs cannot be recorded or redistributed by the press, and the camera goes off while they are presented. Anything this project ever holds about those two categories of evidence will come from written description only.
At least six sidebars were held. No outlet reports the subject or the outcome of any of them, including the objection CBS Boston reports the defense making when the photograph of Cora went up.
DISAGREEMENT — the state of the examination at adjournment. Boston 25 describes Patrick Clancy as already under cross-examination when court adjourned. CBS Boston reports him resuming on direct on Wednesday and boston.com reports cross-examination as expected then. Three of the four accounts point the same way, but the conflict is on the record.
DISAGREEMENT — who opened for the Commonwealth. The Boston Globe, CBS Boston, boston.com and Boston 25's own live blog all name Shanan Buckingham. Boston 25's filed story on the openings attributes the opening statement, and the line about a woman who acted intentionally, rationally and swiftly, to Jennifer Sprague.
DISAGREEMENT — Callan's age. The Boston Globe, WBUR and boston.com give eight months. Boston 25's live blog gives seven months.
DISAGREEMENT — the date of the requested McLean discharge. The Boston Globe gives January 6, 2023; Boston 25 gives January 5.
The two live blogs run several minutes apart all morning — CBS Boston consistently earlier than the Boston Globe by four to sixteen minutes on the same events. Times in this entry are blog post times, not clock times from the courtroom, and should not be treated as precise.
Trial length estimates given on day one: CBS Boston reported six to eight weeks with nearly two hundred potential witnesses listed; Boston 25 reported several weeks to two months.
CBS Boston set out the stakes for the jury on day one: life without parole on a first-degree murder conviction, or commitment to a Massachusetts state mental health facility on a verdict of not criminally responsible.

Witnesses (1)

Patrick ClancyCommonwealth

Ex-husband of the defendant and father of the three children. The Boston Globe reports him now living in New York and working in technology; WBUR and CBS Boston report that he and Lindsay Clancy have since divorced and that he has remarried. He appears on both the Commonwealth's and the defense witness lists.

Direct: Sprague

TESTIMONY NOT COMPLETE. Called as the Commonwealth's first witness immediately after the openings and the morning recess, and still being examined when the day ended about an hour early. The Boston Globe notes he appears on both parties' witness lists. Outlets disagree on where the examination stood: CBS Boston reports he would continue on direct examination on Wednesday, and boston.com that cross-examination was expected then, while Boston 25 describes him as already under cross-examination when court adjourned.
EXAMINER. CBS Boston, WBUR and boston.com all report the questioning being done by ADA Jennifer Sprague, and CBS Boston describes her as leading the case for the Commonwealth. The Boston Globe refers only to the prosecutor and does not name her. An earlier compilation of this page recorded the direct examination as Buckingham's; the three outlets that name an examiner name Sprague, and Buckingham is reported only as delivering the opening statement.
Personal circumstances. He testified that he now lives in New York and works in technology. WBUR and CBS Boston report that he and Lindsay Clancy have divorced and that he has remarried.
How they met. The Boston Globe has him meeting Lindsay in South Boston in May 2013 through his cousin, who had been her college roommate, living with her first in Quincy and then Weymouth, and marrying in December 2016. WBUR and CBS Boston give the meeting as 2013 and the move in together as September 2015.
He did not recall being told before the marriage that she had taken psychiatric medication during nursing school.
Cora was born December 24, 2017, while they lived in Weymouth. After the birth Lindsay had a great deal of tearing, bled heavily and took time to recover. As a labor and delivery nurse she had ten or eleven weeks of maternity leave, the shortest of her three. She had a lot of anxiety in that period, which grew as her return to work approached; he was not aware of her taking psychiatric medication then.
She worked about twenty hours a week after Cora's birth, with a babysitter helping, until Dawson was born on September 30, 2019. That delivery he described as pretty traumatic, with significant bruising and tearing. Her leave was thirteen or fourteen weeks. She saw a therapist for a short time afterward, but it did not last long.
His recurring theme, given in his own words to the jury and picked up by several outlets: the trouble came each time she had to go back to work, because she found separation from her children very hard.
Callan was born May 26, 2022. That delivery seemed to him to have gone well, with less physical trauma. She had been allotted eighteen weeks of leave and never went back to work at all. He took twelve weeks of paternity leave.
The summer after Callan's birth was a good one, with both parents at home — vacations, the beach, the boat, friends' houses. She began struggling again as the fall and her scheduled return to work approached: a lot of stress, and days alone with all three children on different nap schedules and with different needs.
The couple alternated preschool drop-off and pick-up for the two older children and hired a nanny in August or September 2022 for about twelve hours a week, mainly for Callan. He described her as an amazing caregiver, and said they eventually let her go because Lindsay was home anyway.
The family was an active one: gymnastics, swimming, skiing and soccer for the two older children, though Cora did not much like soccer; regular swimming; and Lindsay working out, having been a competitive cheerleader in high school and college.
September 2022, the first disclosure of treatment. At a wedding — placed in New Hampshire by CBS Boston and WBUR, which has the conversation happening on a walk — she told him she was going to start Zoloft for anxiety and about going back to work, and planned to see a psychiatrist. CBS Boston adds that he later learned she already had the prescription, and that she stopped taking it because it disrupted her sleep.
October 2022. He met Dr. Jennifer Tufts and the couple discussed the medication. He learned Lindsay was taking Zoloft and they were seeing how it went. She was not really improving and seemed more depressed. He said she may have told him providers advised doubling the dose.
Sleeping arrangements. She asked him to sleep in the basement so she could sleep alone in their room with Callan because of her sleep trouble; after a couple of nights she went down to the basement herself for a couple of weeks. CBS Boston places the basement sleeping in the fall of 2022.
He was not aware she had taken only seven Zoloft pills. He told the jury she just kept getting worse and worse from October to mid-December 2022. CBS Boston reports him saying she switched psychiatrists because the treatment was not working, and that the new provider prescribed different medications.
November 16, 2022. She drove herself to the hospital after about forty-eight hours without sleep and with heart palpitations; boston.com names the hospital as South Shore. He had not known she took a marijuana edible that day — the Boston Globe records him as unaware of it, boston.com as saying he did not recall.
Thanksgiving 2022. The family visited Lindsay's parents in Connecticut and his sister's home in Southampton. Shown a photograph of Lindsay smiling with his relatives, he said she had been in rough shape that day, highly depressed and low on energy, and that they took care of the children together. CBS Boston renders the same passage as her not talking much, low energy, really depressed. The couple canceled a massage and dinner planned for their December wedding anniversary because she was not feeling well, and stayed home with takeout. In late November the family went to pick up a Christmas tree.
Seroquel and the December spiral. boston.com and Boston 25 report him describing her time on the antipsychotic Seroquel as awful and as really where her big spiral started, with significant weight loss and deep depression. CBS Boston gives the same account of a December medication change without naming the drug. The Boston Globe has him not recalling that she started a new medication in early December, thinking it had been earlier, and describing an awful time on it, significant weight loss and the beginning of her talk of suicide. She told him she had no plan to kill herself.
AGAINST THE COMMONWEALTH'S OWN CASE — or rather in aid of it, since the pill counts were put to him by the Commonwealth on direct. He gave investigators a list of every prescription Lindsay received between September 2022 and January 2023. He was not always present when she took medication and was not keeping track of how many pills came out of each bottle. Police took a bag of prescription medications the night the children died, and further medications she had stopped taking were in the center console of his car.
He did not know that she had taken only six of the thirty Ativan prescribed in October 2022; asked about it he said the context mattered, because doses were being adjusted. He did not recall similar figures for other prescriptions. He agreed it was possible that not many of the prescribed pills had been taken, and thought she took at most three or four at any one time, adding that it would not be surprising to learn she was prescribed two or three at a time. Sprague put it to him directly that a lot of pills were prescribed but not a lot taken, and he accepted that might be right. CBS Boston reports her showing the jury bottles with only minimal quantities missing.
Disclosures of suicidal thinking. He had never heard her voice suicidal thoughts before December 2022. Once she did, he wanted to support her.
Disclosures about the children. She described thoughts of hurting the children, or of the children suffering some ailment — intrusive thoughts, in the language several outlets use. She did not describe hearing a voice. She had no plan, found the thoughts disturbing, and was, in his account, more worried that something might happen to her children. She voiced them a couple of times in December 2022.
The exchange the defense will have to answer and the Commonwealth will rely on. Asked whether she felt she needed to be kept away from the children, she said no. He found this confusing: a minute later she would be making their lunch, playing with them, or getting them ready for bed. He told the jury he never saw Lindsay harm the children.
He said he was not concerned for his children's safety at the time, because she was not showing any intention of harming them.
He did not recall clicking a link on a tablet marked methods of suicide in August. Reported by the Boston Globe alone.
Providers. His mother, a nurse at South Shore Hospital, recommended in November 2022 that Lindsay see a provider named Julie Paul at an affiliated clinic. After Paul left, Lindsay began seeing a nurse practitioner. He said Lindsay did not tell him about therapy sessions with a provider named Latiesha Dukes in that period.
He felt her next appointment in December 2022 had to be in person; boston.com reports him describing a disconnect in virtual care.
December 15, 2022. At an appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital, staff recommended a day program at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence. She enrolled and attended for one day, and providers decided the program was not right for her.
Asked whether by that point she was no longer saying she had any thought of harming the children, he agreed that was so, and said she went to McLean on December 31 because she was still voicing suicidal thoughts. CBS Boston and boston.com report him describing his own exhaustion and deciding it was time for McLean.
McLean Hospital. The Boston Globe has her arriving early on January 1, 2023 after a transfer from Massachusetts General; boston.com describes her checking in on New Year's Eve; Boston 25 has him bringing her to Massachusetts General on December 31 for inpatient psychiatric care at McLean. She stayed five days and he visited two or three times.
WHAT HE CONCEDED ABOUT McLEAN. It did not really seem to him that she was getting any treatment, and he said it took time for her to see a doctor because of the holiday. But he had not known she was seen by medical providers daily, had not known she declined further group therapy after the initial sessions, had not known she asked to be discharged early to be home for Cora's birthday party — the Boston Globe gives the requested date as January 6 and Boston 25 as January 5 — and had not known there were insurance problems with her care there. He said he would not have cared about the insurance and would have paid anything.
Boston 25 alone reports him being asked about, and not knowing about, a selfie she took while waiting to be transferred.
The children. His voice cracked and he struggled to keep his composure describing them. Cora was into princesses, had many friends and liked taking care of people; Dawson liked fire engines and trucks and the show Paw Patrol; Callan was just a happy baby.
January 2023, the Commonwealth's normal-functioning line. Cora's birthday party in Plymouth on January 7, with Lindsay present and having gotten the supplies; video of Cora seated with her as guests sang. The Museum of Science with him and the children on January 8. He checked in with her every day around that time about how she was feeling, and she said she was not having suicidal thoughts and did not raise thoughts of harming the children.
January 14: he went to brunch with friends for about two hours while she stayed home with the children; she encouraged him to go and there were no problems. January 15: the family went to the water park at the Cape Codder in Hyannis, where her demeanor seemed pretty good; Boston 25 reports him saying she seemed better, with no talk of suicide or of hurting the children, and that they looked like any other family enjoying the day.
January 16: he went skiing with Cora and another father and child, leaving the two younger children with Lindsay, with no problems; they texted through the day. CBS Boston reports Sprague pressing him on why he was comfortable with that arrangement given the history, and his answer that her mood seemed better, she was more active and she was able to take part in more things. He agreed he had been hopeful things were improving.
January 21: photographs from a weekend visit to Lindsay's parents; he said she appeared better then. Her mother texted that she was pleased Lindsay was doing better. January 22: dinner at a friend's house with Dawson and Cora, at which Lindsay was quieter but able to interact. January 23: Cora and Dawson at school, with Lindsay collecting them. He said Lindsay generally made the children's appointments.
January 24, 2023. Lindsay drove Cora to a doctor's appointment that morning and they were back about 08:30. He sent her a photograph of Dawson, who had dressed himself completely for the first time, and she sent one of Cora; both were admitted. While he worked from home that morning she and the children built a snowman and did projects. He went upstairs once or twice; CBS Boston reports him saying his work day was busier than usual.
He said she seemed in a good mood that day and did not voice suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming the children. Asked directly whether she was having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming the children that day, he said no to both. CBS Boston, boston.com and WBUR all carry his answer that she was having one of her best days.
The takeout. She texted him about picking up takeout from the Plymouth restaurant ThreeV, where they had eaten before but from which they had never ordered, normally using one of two places closer to home. Early in the evening he asked whether Callan had napped and she said he had taken a shorter one; they settled their orders and she called them in.
Leaving the house. He rocked Callan briefly on his knees and kissed Cora on the head and told them he would be right back with the food. He said her demeanor as he left was normal, and boston.com reports him saying he had no difficulty understanding her texts.
The 911 call was not reached. Both the Boston Globe and Boston 25 report prosecutors appearing ready to play it when court stopped for the day.

Exhibits and evidence

No exhibit numbers were reported by any outlet on this day.
Photographs of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, shown while their father described them.
Photograph of Dawson dressed by himself for the first time, sent by Patrick to Lindsay on the morning of January 24, 2023, and the photograph of Cora she sent in reply. Both admitted (Boston Globe).
Text threads between Patrick and Lindsay Clancy across January 24, 2023, admitted (Boston Globe).
Text thread between them from January 16, 2023, the day Patrick took Cora skiing, identified by the witness.
Video from Cora's birthday party in Plymouth on January 7, 2023, showing her seated with her mother as guests sang.
Video of the family arriving at the Cape Codder water park in Hyannis on January 15, 2023, and further footage of the children on a slide.
Museum of Science material from January 8, 2023 — CBS Boston describes footage shown to the jury; the Boston Globe reports only that the visit was described.
The list of every prescription Lindsay Clancy received between September 2022 and January 2023, which Patrick Clancy gave investigators.
Prescription pill bottles. WBUR reports the Commonwealth entering the bottles in evidence; the Boston Globe reports testimony about a bag of medications police took the night the children died and further medications kept in Patrick Clancy's car.
Photographs of Lindsay Clancy's neck and wrist wounds, displayed by Reddington during the defense opening. Displayed in argument; no outlet reports them admitted on this day.

Rulings and objections

prior FridayMEDIA RESTRICTION. CBS Boston reports at 11:26 that Sullivan had allowed a motion brought by Patrick Clancy the previous Friday. The 911 call and the autopsy photographs of the children may not be recorded, displayed, reproduced, distributed or otherwise disseminated by the media, and the courtroom camera is to be turned off while that evidence is presented in court. No outlet reports what either side argued on the motion.
10:03Sullivan instructed the jury on criminal responsibility as part of the preliminary charge, before any evidence — the McHoul formulation, in both of its prongs. Reported by the Boston Globe.
10:05Sullivan told jurors a view of the scene would be taken. Boston 25 reports the view was expected later that week or the following week, and that the judge had ruled the jury would view the locations later in the proceedings. After the jury left for the day Sullivan discussed the view with counsel at sidebar.
-At least five sidebars were held during the day — at about 09:30, 09:36, 14:18, 14:24, 14:45 and 15:07. No outlet reports the subject or the outcome of any of them. CBS Boston is the only outlet to report an objection, by the defense, when the photograph of Cora was displayed at about 14:18; how it was ruled is not reported.

Procedural

09:23CBS Boston reports the courtroom preparing. Judge William Sullivan presiding at Plymouth Superior Court; ADA Jennifer Sprague leading for the Commonwealth and Kevin Reddington for the defense. An eighteen-member jury, twelve women and six men, had been seated after four days of selection.
09:30Court in session. The Boston Globe reports Clancy brought in in a wheelchair, wearing a pink blouse and accompanied by three nurses. Sullivan took the bench and immediately called counsel to sidebar.
09:36Technical difficulties delayed the start; the Globe reports a sidebar called to deal with them. No outlet says what the problem was.
09:52Jury sworn. Sullivan first asked the jurors whether they had kept away from coverage of the case and whether anything since the previous week had affected their impartiality; all said no. CBS Boston timestamps this 09:52 and the Globe 09:53.
09:57Preliminary instructions. Sullivan told jurors they must presume Clancy innocent unless the Commonwealth proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the indictment carried no inference of guilt.
10:03Sullivan told jurors Clancy faced three counts of murder and gave them the criminal responsibility standard: a defendant is not criminally responsible for her conduct if, as a result of a mental disease or defect, she lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality or wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law. Reported by the Boston Globe.
10:05Sullivan told jurors they would take a view of the scene and that they alone would judge the credibility of witnesses.
10:07CBS Boston recaps the four days of jury selection: candidates were questioned about their experience of psychiatry, their familiarity with mental health facilities and their exposure to postpartum depression.
10:08Sullivan explained that sidebar conferences would be held out of the jury's hearing.
10:09Sullivan instructed jurors to keep an open mind until all the evidence was in and deliberations began.
10:11Sullivan warned jurors not to discuss the case with anyone or consume coverage of it, telling them a fair and just trial had to be ensured.
10:10-10:18Opening statement for the Commonwealth by ADA Shanan Buckingham. CBS Boston puts the start at 10:10, the Globe puts the openings beginning at 10:13 and Buckingham starting at 10:18. The two blogs run several minutes apart across the whole morning.
10:24-10:34Buckingham finished. CBS Boston timestamps the conclusion 10:24 and the Globe 10:34.
10:30-10:38Opening statement for the defense by Kevin Reddington. CBS Boston timestamps the start 10:30 and the Globe 10:38.
10:54-11:10Reddington finished. CBS Boston timestamps the conclusion 10:54; the Globe's last entry from the defense opening is at 11:10.
11:05-11:13Jury out for the morning recess. The Globe reports Clancy putting her face in her hands and sobbing as they left, and describes the break as a twenty-minute recess although its own entries put the jury back at about 11:46.
11:26CBS Boston reports the terms of the media restriction Sullivan had allowed on Friday on Patrick Clancy's motion. See rulings.
11:45-11:47Patrick Clancy called as the Commonwealth's first witness. CBS Boston timestamps this 11:45, the Globe 11:47 with him taking the stand at 11:50, wearing a navy suit. The Globe notes he appears on both the Commonwealth's and the defense witness lists.
13:00Lunch recess with Patrick Clancy still on the stand. The Globe gives it as 13:00 to 14:00. CBS Boston reports the break called at 13:00 with testimony resuming about 14:00.
13:49-14:15Patrick Clancy back on the stand. CBS Boston's entry is at 13:49 and the Globe's at 14:15.
14:18Sidebar after the prosecutor displayed a photograph of Cora. CBS Boston reports a defense objection at this point; the Globe reports only that a sidebar was requested. Neither reports how it was resolved.
14:20After the sidebar, Patrick Clancy described each of the children while their photographs were shown. The Globe reports Clancy reaching for tissues and crying as the images went up on the courtroom screen.
14:24Counsel called to sidebar after evidence about the family's January 8, 2023 visit to the Museum of Science. Resolution not reported.
14:41The Commonwealth played video of the family arriving at the water park and of the children on a slide.
14:45Counsel called to sidebar after the water park video. Resolution not reported.
15:07Counsel called back to sidebar during evidence about the evening of January 24, 2023.
15:05Sullivan sent the jury home for the day, roughly an hour early, reminding them again to stay away from coverage. The Globe reports that he gave no explanation for stopping early and that prosecutors had appeared poised to play Patrick Clancy's 911 call; Boston 25 likewise reports the 911 call had not been reached.
15:07With the jury gone, Sullivan called counsel to sidebar to discuss the view, then recessed until 9 a.m. Wednesday. The Globe has him off the bench before 15:10.
-CBS Boston records the trial's working day as starting about 9 a.m., with a morning recess, a break from 1 to 2 and afternoon testimony until about 4.
28 JulNo sitting. CBS Boston reports the reason was unrelated to the case. Court resumed Wednesday, July 29.

Sourcesglobe-day-01 cbs-day-01 boston-0727 b25-day-01 b25-openings wbur-patrick eastidaho-day-01 cnn-openings cnn-day1 wbur-openings courttv-daily

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