Lindsay Clancy’s sister, former coworker take the stand for the defense in her murder trial

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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The jury has heard so far from witnesses who demonstrated that Clancy had sought treatment for severe mental health problems, including admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital. But witnesses also noted Clancy wouldn’t always take the medications prescribed to help with her insomnia, anxiety and depression, and that she expressed fears she was addicted to some of them.

The defense, on cross-examination, argued that Clancy was overmedicated and demonstrated that her care was disjointed, with doctors not speaking to one another, conducting appointments with her over Zoom and not sharing their notes. Despite her efforts to seek treatment, the defense also showed she was discharged from one facility after a day and denied a higher level of care at another when she couldn’t show that she had a suicide plan.

Prosecutors also questioned the seriousness of Clancy’s suicide attempt and showed through texts and photos that she performed many normal activities the day of the killings, including taking her children to the doctor and playing with them in the snow.

Her doctors also testified they never saw Clancy exhibit signs of mania or psychosis, though she did repeatedly talk of feeling suicidal.

Clancy hasn’t testified in the trial and isn’t required to do so, but jurors have seen her break down in sobs at several points while others have been testifying, including when prosecutors showed the jury autopsy photos of the children.

Early in the trial, Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, described the horror of returning home to find his dead children. During his testimony, prosecutors played a harrowing 911 call he made after finding his wife outside in the backyard.

Patrick Clancy also testified he got a call from Lindsay Clancy about a week after the killings. She didn’t mention her children, he said, but “talked about what she went through. She said she heard a man’s voice telling her if she didn’t do it now she would lose her chance or something like that.”

Michael Casey, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Lindsay Clancy’s sister, former coworker take the stand for the defense in her murder trial

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