HEARTBREAKING COURTROOM MOMENT: LINDSAY CLANCY’S PRIVATE DIARY ENTRIES READ ALOUD AS ‘AMERICA’S SADDEST MU-RDER TRIAL’ TAKES ANOTHER EMOTIONAL TURN
Lindsay Clancy’s heartrending diary entries were read aloud in court on Monday as the prosecution submitted her journals as evidence.
Clancy said she felt ‘disconnected, guilty and overwhelmed’ in a series of diary entries as she went through the ‘motions’ of trying to take care of three children while her mental health suffered.
The trial entered its second week at Plymouth County Superior Court as Clancy faces charges of murdering her three kids Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callan by strangling them with exercise bands at the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023.
On Friday, the Massachusetts mom sobbed as doctors delivered harrowing testimony about their attempts to save her children in hospital after first responders ushered them away from the scene.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty in the murder trial citing postpartum psychosis, while the prosecution maintains the killings were premeditated and deliberate.
Clancy had been prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications in the months leading up to the tragedy. Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, has since filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the clinicians who treated her.
Prosecution submits Lindsay Clancy’s journal entries as evidence
Massachusetts State Police Officer Cory Melo took the stand on Monday afternoon.
Melo worked for state attorney’s office at the time of the Clancy children’s deaths and he was involved in the investigation into the killings.
The officer was asked about several of Lindsay Clancy’s diaries or journals found inside the home.
As the prosecution read out the entries, Clancy said she became ‘obsessed’ with sleep.
‘Hearing him cry for one hour plus just about killed me. I even said I want to die to Pat when he was crying,’ she wrote.
‘I’m completely overwhelmed taking care of three kids. I feel like I’m drowning,’ she continued.
During cross-examination, Kevin Reddington read out more of her musings in detail.
‘I feel completely disconnected with my baby. I feel like I am going through the motions every day. I feel horribly guilty about my marriage. I feel guilty that I am spending my family’s money,’ she penned.
‘I’m desperate to get a mental break. It’s like my mind never shuts off. I am always thinking about the next thing somebody needs,’ she continued.
03:47
Court has finished for the day
Court is in recess until tomorrow morning, where the prosecution will continue to question more witnesses.
02:32
Defense attorney cross-examines Massachusetts State Police officer
Under cross-examination, Kevin Reddington held up a clear bag full of pill bottles which were found in Lindsay Clancy’s bedside drawer the night the search warrant of the house was executed.
John Santos from the Massachusetts State Police said he did not know why the bottles, along with sleep aids and Clancy’s Apple Watch, were not found in the drawer and seized during the search.
02:22
Police officer who responded to Clancy house noted postpartum book and worksheets
John Santos from the Massachusetts State Police was part of the search warrant team responding to the Clancy household on the evening of January 24, 2023.
In a cabinet above the stove, Santos found several notebooks including discharge paperwork for Clancy from McLean Hospital. Clancy voluntarily entered McLean in November 2022.
As well as prescriptions for medications, Santos found a patient information sheet for postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety and a book titled: ‘Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts.’
Prosecutors then submitted a notebook titled ‘Callan Patrick Clancy’ into evidence, a yellow book that included notes from Clancy to the nanny.
Defense attorney Reddington swung in his chair and shook his head as Santos spoke, seemingly rattled by today’s testimony.
02:08
Duxbury Police Sergeant Robert Flynn heard ‘screaming and chaos’ on his radio
Duxbury Police Sergeant Robert Flynn testified that he had worked in the day on January 24, 2023, but was called back in later in the evening.
He responded to a call at the Clancy residence and said that he could hear ‘screaming and chaos’ on the police radio.
When he got to the premise, the children and Lindsay were removed from the scene, and Flynn conducted a security sweep of the house.
In the kitchen area, he saw children’s drawings on the wall and a takeout order on the bench.
In the living room, there were children’s bowls as though they had been eating snacks.
He then went into the basement of the home before he went up to the top floor of the house and into the master bedroom, which was colder because the window had been left open.
01:55
Forensic psychiatrist is cross-examined by defense attorney
Forensic psychiatrist Jhilam Biswas was asked by defense attorney Kevin Reddington if Lindsay Clancy’s suicidal ideation continued after they met, to which Biswas confirmed they had only met once.
Reddington has mentioned multiple times in court that Biswas only saw Clancy one time in hospital, for 20 minutes in total.
The prosecution is trying to hammer home that one of first things Clancy asked the psychiatrist was if she should get a lawyer.
01:39
Forensic psychiatrist testified that she did not see signs of psychosis in Lindsay Clancy at the time she evaluated her
Jhilam Biswas testified that, during her limited time with Clancy in hospital, she did not see any signs of psychosis.
Under cross-examination from defense attorney Kevin Reddington, she confirmed that she only saw Clancy one time for around 20 to 30 minutes.
When asked if the psychosis can stop and start, she testified that it depends on the patient.
‘For some people there can be moments of clarity… it depends on the patient,’ she testified.
Biswas was aware that Clancy had a history of postpartum anxiety and insomnia when she examined her, she said, and she confirmed that she knew that Clancy had expressed suicidal thoughts before.
When pressed if she knew that she had previously had homicidal thoughts, she said ‘I knew there was an event.’
‘Three children died. That’s the event you’re referring to,’ Reddington said, raising his voice.
01:31
Forensic psychiatrist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said that Lindsay Clancy felt ‘horrified’ after the tragic events
On the afternoon of January 26, 2023, forensic psychiatrist Jhilam Biswas met with Lindsay Clancy to help evaluate her and provide psychiatric recommendations.
Clancy was awake but intubated at the time, meaning it was difficult to answer questions. She gestured that she wanted to write so she gave her paper and a pen.
The psychiatrist proceeded to ask her several questions.
When she asked her about her mood and how she was feeling, Clancy wrote: ‘Horrified.’
She also wrote down the following questions for the doctors: ‘Do I have an attorney? Is my body broken? Are my legs straight?’
Biswas testified that she was anxious but seemed to understand the questions she was being asked.
23:59
Court breaks for lunch
The court will be back in session at 2pm.
23:58
Psychiatrist said Lindsay Clancy was an ‘honest patient’
Under cross-examination, Reddington asked psychiatrist Segal Shah, if in her experience, Clancy was an ‘honest patient.’ She confirmed that she was.
Clancy didn’t claim to have hallucinations or try to exaggerate her condition for legal reasons, she confirmed.
The psychiatrist also said that she was aware that Clancy had postpartum issues.
She said that people can plan and act on plans in a state of psychosis, and that they can also continue to communicate with people.
The prosecution has suggested that Clancy planned to kill the children – and that this indicates she was not in a state of psychosis.
Reddington then reeled off the list of medications that Clancy was prescribed by psychiatrists in the leadup to the killings from September 2022 and January 2023.
23:35
Psychiatrist Segal Shah assessed whether Lindsay Clancy was capable of making the decision to change her healthcare proxy
The psychiatrist began seeing Clancy on January 29, 2023.
She asked her if she was having hallucinations or delusions or suicidal and homicidal intent. Clancy said she was not.
She had, however, reported hallucinations overnight to another nurse after undergoing serious spinal surgery and waking up from anesthesia.
Shah was required to assess whether Clancy was capable of making the decision to change her healthcare proxy from her husband Patrick Clancy to her parents Mike and Paula Musgrove.
Clancy’s parents sat listening to the psychiatrist’s testimony inside the courtroom – their presence every day a marker of their support.
SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16024867/lindsay-clancy-trial-husband-patrick-parents-children-live-updates.html
