Lindsay Clancy breaks down crying as medical examiner testifies about daughter's autopsy
The judge in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial called a recess on Wednesday after Clancy began sobbing audibly during a medical examiner's testimony about one of her children's autopsies, ABC Boston affiliate WCVB-TV reported.
Clancy reportedly began crying as medical examiner Barbara Olson described 5-year-old Cora Clancy's injuries and was removed from the courtroom in her wheelchair a few minutes later, during a recess.
Clancy, 35, has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges in connection with the deaths of her daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan at her family's home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023.
Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued she had postpartum psychosis and severe mental illness, and that she attempted to take her own life after strangling her children.
Postpartum psychosis is a rare but serious medical emergency characterized by severe, rapid onset psychiatric episodes such as mania, depression or hallucinations. It can have rapid onset in the days or weeks after birth, research shows.
Testimony on Wednesday focused on the autopsies of Clancy's three children.
According to WCVB, Clancy began to cry at several different points during the Wednesday's session, which saw testimony from Olson -- who testified about the Clancy children's strangulation injuries -- as well as Dr. Renee Stonebridge, director of cardiac and neuropathology at the state's chief medical examiner's office, who also testified about the children's injuries.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, jurors heard from the psychiatric nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay Clancy in the weeks before Clancy strangled her children to death.
Nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta specifically testified about patient portal messages she exchanged with Clancy during that period, telling jurors Clancy repeatedly attempted to change psychiatric medications despite acknowledging that switching drugs would likely impact her mental health.
"It's just a scary, very scary, stressful time for me, and starting new meds with side effects is very scary to me," Clancy wrote in one message, according to prosecutors.
Jollotta testified that she tried to be encouraging, telling Clancy her conditions would improve and that new medications can take weeks to take effect.
Jollotta is one of several medical professionals being sued by both Clancy and her ex-husband Patrick Clancy for allegedly overmedicating and failing to properly treat Lindsay Clancy following the birth of her third child. Jollotta, along with the other medical professionals named in the suits, has denied the allegations.
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