Right in the middle of the trial, a shocking new theory suddenly emerged: The first person who led Lindsay Clancy to say she heard “voices” may not have been Lindsay herself…
A SHOCKING theory was brought to light in court about the voice Lindsay Clancy said she heard before she strangled her three children.
A police officer at the witness stand was questioned on Wednesday about an apparent theory from the state that a doctor coached Lindsay, 36, into saying she killed her kids because she heard voices.
Lindsay Clancy (pictured on Wednesday) is on trial after strangling her three children on the night of January 24, 2023Credit: AP
On Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Dan Lawlor was questioned about a theory that Lindsay was coached into saying she heard voices before the killingsCredit: AP
Lindsay has admitted to strangling her children – five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan – with exercise bands in the basement of their Duxbury, Massachusetts home on the night of January 24, 2023.
The former labor and delivery nurse then crushed up pills, slit her wrists and neck before jumping from her bedroom window on the second floor of the house in a suicide attempt.
Lindsay has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges, where her defense attorney Kevin Reddington has argued she was not criminally responsible for murder because she was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum psychosis.
Killer mom Lindsay Clancy’s courtroom outburst halts murder trial proceedings
Lindsay has claimed that she heard a voice telling her to kill her children and herself.
“This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” the voice said, according to Reddington.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by her ex-husband Patrick Clancy said Lindsay heard “a compelling and unrecognizable singular male voice” telling her “that she should die … and that her children would suffer if she was gone.”
On Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Dan Lawlor, who was stationed outside Lindsay’s hospital room after her suicide attempt, was called to the witness stand.
During the cross-examination, he was questioned about details of a “theory” discussed by investigators.
The theory alleged the psychologist hired by Lindsay’s defense had planted the seed of hearing a voice in her head.
Dr Paul Zeizel, a forensic psychologist, visited Lindsay at Brigham Women’s Hospital a few days after the killings while she was receiving treatment.
Reddington got a court order that would allow Zeizel to visit Lindsay as her previous attorney and parents were not allowed to see her.
Lindsay’s three children Cora, Callan and Dawson were found in the basement of their home by their father Patrick ClancyCredit: Plymouth Superior Court
The Clancy family pictured weeks before the kids’ deathsCredit: Plymouth Superior Court
Zeizel allowed Lindsay to use his phone during the visit to call her then-husband Patrick.
That call was the first time the two had spoken since the night of January 24, and was where Lindsay told Patrick she heard a voice on the day of the killings.
During his cross-examination, Reddington brought up the theories that Zeizel told Lindsay to say she heard voices to help create a defense case.
“Isn’t it fair to say that one of the contentions of the district attorneys is that Paul Zeizel, my doctor that I got a court order to get in to see her, told her to call Pat and tell him that she heard voices?” Reddington asked Lawlor before the prosecution objected.
The judge called an immediate sidebar, where Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham’s voice could be heard growing increasingly louder, according to the Daily Mail.
Reddington bounced up and down on his toes, crossing his arms and shaking his head while the prosecutor spoke and gestured animatedly when he got to speak.
The jurors scribbled down notes and whispered to each other during the heated exchange.
The judge later asked the jury to leave, then allowed the defense and prosecution to question Lawlor about the theory without the 18 jurors in the courtroom.
Lawlor said he worked with the prosecutors and discussed theories and evidence pertaining to the case with them.
“They basically had a theory that they wanted to run with, that Zeizel told her, Lindsay, to say that she heard voices,” Reddington said.
Lawlor said he wasn’t sure if it was a theory but recalled that conversation.
The police officer said a trooper investigating the case told him “during the conversation, Lindsay communicated to Patrick that she had heard voices in her head.”
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington seen questioning Lawlor about discussing the theory with investigatorsCredit: AP
Lawlor was also questioned by the prosecution about evidence collected after the killings, including a pair of Lindsay’s jeansCredit: AP
Lawlor said he never spoke with prosecutors about the theory.
When the prosecution questioned him, Lawlor affirmed he did not know about the theory while at the hospital.
When the jury was brought back in, Lawlor testified that he was not eavesdropping on the conversation between Lindsay and Zeizel and that he and the investigators did not see any records of what the two talked about in the hospital room.
“Did you talk to [another investigator] about the theory that Dr Zeizel is the reason that she told her husband that she heard voices?
“Yes,” Lawlor replied, adding that the theory was speculation and had no investigative basis.
Reddington’s move to shed light on the theory comes as the prosecution has argued Lindsay was not “in the throes of psychosis” when she killed her children.
Medical professionals, family members and friends have testified in the trial saying Lindsay never told them about hearing a voice before the killings happened.
Also on Wednesday, Reddington told the court about how Lindsay contacted a suicide crisis hotline twice in December 2022, one month before her kids’ deaths.
Lindsay was turned away by the crisis hotline ASPIRE the two times she called them.
“Two times she contacted ASPIRE, not once. Both times they told her there was nothing they could do for her?’ Reddington asked Latiesha Dukes, a mental health counselor who saw Lindsay on four occasions.
“Correct,” Dukes said, adding that the hotline turned Lindsay away because she didn’t have any plans to act on her suicidal thoughts.
Dukes said that during their appointment on December 5, 2022, Lindsay discussed having a “difficult weekend” that prompted her to call the hotline.
“She had a difficult weekend, having intrusive thought that she wanted to die,” the counselor said earlier in the day in her testimony.
“She met with the clinician virtually and was told she did not meet the criteria for in-patient treatment due to not having suicidal ideation plan.”
Lindsay faces life in prison without parole if she is convicted of murder.
If she is found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would be committed to a mental health facility in Massachusetts.
SOURCE: THE SUN
https://www.the-sun.com/news/16836449/lindsay-clancy-theory-coached-hearing-voices-after-killing-kids/
