Lindsay Clancy trial live updates: Mysterious jury drama as chaplain reveals killer mom’s haunting reaction to kids’ deaths

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Editor’s note: Coverage of this case is disturbing. Scroll with discretion.

Lindsay Clancy had a chilling message for a hospital chaplain who visited her after the Massachusetts mom strangled her three young children, once a breathing tube was removed one week after her heinous act and botched suicide attempt, the chaplain revealed Thursday.

Clancy’s defense attorney said this morning that he expects closing arguments Monday in Plymouth, Mass. — and that his client is “so beat up and just so sad” after sitting through nearly four grueling weeks of testimony.

The labor and delivery nurse, 36, has sobbed at times while witnesses divulged details about the night she killed Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with exercise bands in the basement of the family’s Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023 — crying out “I can’t do this!” as autopsies were shown.

Clancy is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

The defense argues she is not criminally responsible for her three kids’ deaths because she was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder, exacerbated by a dangerous cocktail of 13 powerful psychiatric medications.

Court has wrapped for the day, but keep reading to catch up on news from the Lindsay Clancy trial on Thursday:

If you've been following the Lindsay Clancy trial, chances are your algorithms on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms are serving up some wild conspiracy theories — particularly, claiming the killer mom's then-husband, Patrick Clancy, is the one who strangled their three children and framed his postpartum wife, or otherwise is at fault.

A journalist with local outlet NBC Boston — who has been in the courtroom and providing daily analysis of the trial — recently broke down the Patrick theories:

So you think you know more than Kevin Reddington?
If there were any evidence that Patrick Clancy had a role in the deaths of his three children, Reddington would use it.
A lawyer who has spent his entire career identifying the strongest available defense does not concede the act…

Lindsay Clancy killed her three children.
At opening statements, Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington told jurors that she knows she killed the children.
She has pleaded not guilty, arguing that she lacked criminal responsibility because of mental illness.
The defense isn’t…

My notes on Reddington’s opening statement don’t accurately reflect what he said.
This, however, makes it clear:

Motion for Reconsideration of Motion for Bifurcated Trial, filed by Kevin Reddington in Commonwealth v. Lindsay Clancy, No. 2383CR00199.

“The issue of the actions… https://t.co/heImz482UF

Judge William Sullivan said he anticipates that closing arguments by lawyers on both sides will likely start Monday or Tuesday, meaning jurors could begin deliberating by early next week.

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney Kevin Reddington said he has one more doctor he plans to call to the stand Friday. Then, prosecutors have three more of their own medical witnesses they plan to call to make their rebuttal case.

The lawyers also discussed with Sullivan what they wanted to be in the instructions the judge will give the jury.

Chaplain Sheila Cavanaugh told the jury that Lindsay Clancy talks about her kids often and "carries immense grief."

"Lindsay talks frequently about her children; she loves them deeply. She carries immense grief," the chaplain said.

Cavanaugh said she has continued to see Clancy weekly in the years since the killings, including as recently as just before the trial kicked off at the end of July.

On Feb. 6, 2023, days after the killings, Clancy told Cavanaugh she had "fears of not being able to walk again," and worried that would make her vulnerable to other people, according to the chaplain's notes.

She also recounted the first time she saw Clancy at Brigham and Women's Hospital on Jan. 25, 2023 — the day after the killings.

"The unit was filled with law enforcement," Cavanaugh recalled.

When she went into Clancy's hospital room, Clancy couldn't speak because she had a breathing tube in her mouth.

"She was dressed in medical armour, she had tubes, she was intubated, she had bandages, she had a neck brace," the chaplain said. "She was just covered and layered in equipment that allowed her to breath."

Cavanaugh said she still prayed with Clancy, even though the mom couldn't speak.

When Cavanaugh saw Clancy on Jan. 31, a few days after the breathing tube was taken out, "her emotional state was very neutral, a flat affect. I remember vividly the first thing she said to me," the chaplain testified.

Cavanaugh said Clancy told her she was "so glad my children are safe."

Judge William Sullivan has let the jury go for the day and told them earlier that Friday would be a full trial day.

After the panelists were out of the room, Sullivan said he would take a break and then come back and discuss the jury instruction with the lawyers.

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague asked chaplain Sheila Cavanaugh if she knew that Lindsay Clancy used a yellow exercise band as part of her rehab at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

Cavanaugh has visited with Clancy over 200 times at three different hospitals since Clancy strangled her three kids with colored exercise bands.

"In those conversations, did [Clancy] tell you in her first weeks at Spaulding that she was working out with a yellow exercise band?" Sprague asked.

"I don’t recall her telling me that," Cavanaugh said.