Lindsay Clancy, a Duxbury woman who allegedly strangled her three children in January 2023, attended two hearings this week to determine how she should be transported to court for trial from the hospital in which she resides. Clancy has been in the custody of the state and held at Tewksbury Hospital since an apparent suicide attempt: after her children’s deaths, she jumped from a second-story window and suffered back injuries that rendered her quadriplegic, according to her lawyer.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to the strangling of her three children, which prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said was a premeditated and willful act. Brockton attorney Kevin Reddington, who represents Clancy, has framed the murders as an unintentional act Clancy committed while suffering from post-partum psychosis compounded by overmedication.
Clancy’s trial was delayed twice to allow expert witnesses for both the defense and prosecution enough time to evaluate Clancy. Tewksbury has turned over all of its medical records on Clancy, and Sprague roughly estimated that her experts would need three to four months to comb through them, interview Clancy, and prepare their reports.
“We now have all the records. We’ve got the experts lined up. We’ve got the trial date,” Judge William Sullivan said. “That date is a hard date.”
Reddington has indicated that he will argue at trial that Clancy cannot be held criminally responsible for the murders due to her psychosis.
The hearings this week provided some insights on Clancy’s condition and her time at Tewksbury. Reddington said she has been on 24/7 suicide watch since being placed in the custody of the Department of Mental Health in 2023. In that time, she has only left Tewksbury to receive care at other hospitals.
Clancy is required to appear for her July trial in person, but the level of psychiatric and physical care that she needs makes that a “logistical nightmare,” Reddington said. She has attended all of her previous legal proceedings virtually.
Plymouth sheriff’s department general counsel Jessica Kenny told Sullivan that, per a report provided by Tewksbury hospital, Clancy required a wheelchair-accessible van and one nurse, and that the department had no objections to providing Clancy a nurse or allowing a Tewksbury nurse to accompany her.
Reddington dismissed Kenny’s oral presentation as “radio ga ga,” saying “it doesn’t tell you anything.”
He balked at the report’s claim that Clancy could self-transfer to and from her wheelchair. Clancy has no sensation or motor control below the sternum and requires two nurses and a van that can accommodate a stretcher, he said.
The prosecution has previously claimed that only Clancy’s lower body is paralyzed, and conflicting reports from Tewksbury have left the severity of her paralysis an open question.
Reddington said that transporting her in a sheriff’s department vehicle with sheriff’s department nurses would be an unnecessary restriction given her severe disability, which he argued would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act’s provisions on transporting the mentally ill.
“She’s not a danger to others, that’s for sure, but she’s a danger to herself,” Reddington said. “She has to have a nurse who knows the medical condition of the individual. Not some random person from the sheriff’s department.”
Sprague disagreed that placing the sheriff’s department in charge of her transportation would violate the ADA, and Tewksbury Hospital does not have the equipment or capacity to transport Clancy.
Reddington lodged another accusation against the state: that they had accessed Clancy’s medical information from Tewksbury Hospital without the necessary HIPAA permissions signed by Clancy.
Sprague denied any wrongdoing by the hospital or the state.
“This woman is a prisoner held without bail on these charges under the control of the sheriff's department, so they have every right to her medical information,” Sprague said.
Sullivan will draft an order instructing the sheriff’s office how to transport Clancy to court and solicit comments on it from all parties at a hearing January 27, which Clancy will attend virtually.
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