Commonwealth v. Clancy, August 26, 2026
The Commonwealth's last witness finishes, the defense crosses him, and if the bench's expectation holds the evidence closes. What follows is the charge rather than the facts: two defense requests from August 20 have never been reported resolved, and the verdict slip the jury is given depends on them.
Key points
- THIS DAY IS WRITTEN IN ADVANCE AND NOTHING IN IT IS REPORTED YET. Everything below is an expectation drawn from what the bench and the accounts said at the end of Tuesday's sitting, and it will be replaced as the day is covered.
- COURT IS EXPECTED TO SIT AT NINE, WITH THE SAME WITNESS BACK ON THE STAND. East Idaho News reports the recess running until nine o'clock on Wednesday, when Dr. Gregory Saathoff is to resume his testimony. He was still under direct examination by the Commonwealth when the jury was sent home. East Idaho News, 3:55 p.m. Tuesday; NBC Boston, 3:56 p.m. Tuesday.
- THE QUESTION HIS EVIDENCE EXISTS TO ANSWER HAS NOT BEEN PUT TO HIM YET. Across an afternoon of direct examination Dr. Saathoff was not reported giving the jury an opinion on criminal responsibility — whether, as a result of mental disease or defect, the defendant lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of what she did or to conform her conduct to the law. Both rebuttal experts before him were asked that question in terms at the end of their direct examinations and both answered that she was criminally responsible.
- THE DEFENSE HAS NOT CROSS-EXAMINED HIM. Kevin Reddington's cross of Dr. Avram Mack and his cross of Dr. Kirk Heilbrun each ran well beyond an hour and went at the witness — fees, credentials, what had been read and what had not — before they went at the opinion. Dr. Saathoff has already told this jury that he is paid nothing for the work himself. Nothing is reported about what the cross of him will contain.
- THE BENCH EXPECTS THE EVIDENCE TO CLOSE ON WEDNESDAY. “It is anticipated that the evidence will close tomorrow,” Judge Sullivan told the jury on Tuesday afternoon, and said it should have only one more day of testimony. That is his expectation and not a ruling, and it depends on how long the last witness takes. NBC Boston, 3:56 p.m. Tuesday; Boston 25, 3:54 p.m. Tuesday.
- CLOSING ARGUMENTS ARE POINTED TO FOR THURSDAY, AND THE ACCOUNTS DISAGREE ABOUT WHEN THE JURY RETIRES. Boston 25 and East Idaho News both report Thursday as the likely day for the closings, and the Boston Globe has the judge putting the jury instructions on that day as well, after them. NBC Boston reports that the judge and counsel have to meet between the close of the evidence and the closings, and ABC News reports that meeting is the charge conference, set for Wednesday once the evidence has closed. Where the accounts part is the day the jury actually gets the case: NBC News reports Judge Sullivan telling the jurors as he released them that deliberations are unlikely to begin before Friday, while the Patriot Ledger, writing up the same instruction, has him putting their start on Thursday alongside the closings. Both are recorded and neither is resolved. None of it is fixed. Boston 25, 3:54 p.m. Tuesday; East Idaho News, 3:55 p.m. Tuesday; NBC Boston, 3:56 p.m. Tuesday; Boston Globe, 3:57 p.m. Tuesday; Patriot Ledger, 4:08 p.m. Tuesday; NBC News, 4:09 p.m. Tuesday; ABC News, 4:28 p.m. Tuesday.
- TWO THINGS ARE STILL UNRESOLVED FROM AUGUST 20. The defense asked that involuntary manslaughter go on the verdict slip and that the jury be instructed on involuntary intoxication. No account read for this index reports Judge Sullivan deciding either. ABC News reports the charge conference set for Wednesday once the evidence has closed, and that is where they would be decided — the last contested question before the jury is addressed. ABC News, 4:28 p.m. Tuesday.
Witnesses (1)
Dr. Gregory SaathoffCommonwealth
Forensic psychiatrist, the Commonwealth's third and last rebuttal witness
Direct: Commonwealth, resuming Cross: expected
- HE IS EXPECTED BACK ON THE STAND WITH HIS DIRECT EXAMINATION UNFINISHED. Nothing he says on Wednesday is reported yet. What is on the record from Tuesday is set out under day 20: his qualifications and his work for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, about eleven hours of interviews with the defendant over video in May and June, an interview with her husband, his evidence that the voice she described does not behave the way voices do, and a series of divergences he told the jury he found between her account and the records. He had reached her own description of the killings when the jury was sent home. No opinion of his on criminal responsibility has been reported, and the defense has not yet had him.