Crime
“It’s readily obvious … that this lady was a troubled soul.”
The Duxbury lady accused of strangling her three kids final January pleaded not responsible to homicide fees on Thursday, showing earlier than a choose on the state-run hospital the place she continues to obtain psychiatric care.
Sitting in a wheelchair and carrying a blue surgical masks, 33-year-old Lindsay Clancy listened silently as prosecutor Jennifer Sprague ran by a timeline main as much as the night of Jan. 24, when Clancy allegedly strangled her kids and severely injured herself in a suicide try.
Hospitalized because the slayings, Clancy was arraigned at Tewksbury Hospital on three counts every of homicide and strangulation within the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy.
Dueling portraits of the younger mom emerged Thursday as prosecutor Jennifer Sprague and protection lawyer Kevin J. Reddington went face to face, the legal professionals clashing over whether or not Clancy was in her proper thoughts on the time of the alleged assaults.
Right here’s what we discovered from Clancy’s arraignment:
‘Are you able to deal with a sociopath?’
In response to Sprague, Clancy searched “Are you able to deal with a sociopath?” on the web a number of days earlier than allegedly killing her kids.
Clancy had reportedly been struggling together with her psychological well being within the months prior, beginning with anxiousness forward of her return to work following the delivery of her third youngster. She noticed a number of psychological well being care suppliers and was prescribed a slew of medicines main as much as the killings, in keeping with courtroom paperwork and statements from her lawyer.
Investigators additionally recovered a number of notebooks the place Clancy documented her psychological state, wrote about her kids’s lives, and stored observe of the drugs she was taking, Sprague mentioned, describing the writing as clear and articulate.
But Clancy’s capability to take coherent notes doesn’t essentially imply she wasn’t struggling, Reddington contended. He asserted that Clancy was “clearly” affected by postpartum melancholy.
Within the weeks and months previous to the killings, “She was in such a state, she was unable to emote,” he mentioned. “She was unable to really feel. She had no capability to like, whether or not it was her husband or her youngsters.”
Describing his consumer as a “marvelous, unbelievable mom” previous to the alleged murders, Reddington ascribed Clancy’s psychological state to postpartum melancholy and drugs.
“She clearly had no purpose to kill these three lovely kids,” he mentioned. “It’s important to ask your self why. Why? And whenever you ask your self why, you contemplate all of those components, it’s readily obvious … that this lady was a troubled soul.”
What her blood assessments revealed
Pushing again on protection assertions that Clancy was overmedicated, Sprague famous {that a} psychiatrist who reviewed Clancy’s medical information testified earlier than a grand jury that attempting drugs in numerous combos and dosages is routine when a affected person is initially determining what remedy works greatest for them.
In response to Sprague, a toxicology evaluation of blood samples taken from Clancy after she arrived on the hospital on Jan. 24 revealed seven prescription drugs in her system, together with a number of antidepressants, a temper stabilizer, and two anti-anxiety medicine.
Most had been present in therapeutic doses, Sprague mentioned, noting that solely two — antidepressant Remeron and antipsychotic Seroquel — had been discovered at increased ranges. The truth is, she mentioned, each medicine had been discovered at “peak ranges,” indicating they had been consumed round two hours earlier than Clancy’s blood was drawn.
In response to Sprague, these ranges had been an indication Clancy took the drugs shortly after allegedly killing her kids.
How extreme had been her accidents?
The prosecutor additionally described wounds to Clancy’s wrists and neck as minor and superficial, asserting that Clancy “didn’t slit her wrists or slice them open.”
Reddington, nonetheless, pushed again on the outline of Clancy’s wounds as minor, noting that he’d been contained in the household’s residence and seen the blood spattering, which he described as “copious.”
Plymouth District Courtroom search warrant purposes unsealed this week describe a number of cuts to each of Clancy’s wrists, in addition to a number of lacerations and a “deep minimize” on the appropriate aspect of her neck.
In response to Sprague, Clancy additionally sustained damaged ribs, some damaged bones in her again, and a spinal twine transection on the T5-T6 stage in her mid-back.
Citing blood smeared on the house’s exterior, Sprague alleged that Clancy climbed out of her bed room window after which both dropped or slid down, slightly than leaping or hurling herself out.
“I don’t assume she took under consideration the very fact the bottom was frozen,” Sprague mentioned.
Clancy’s standing immediately
Dr. Karin Towers, a forensic psychologist who spoke with Clancy previous to her arraignment, beneficial that Clancy stay at a psychiatric remedy facility. She instructed the courtroom that Clancy continues to have melancholy, ideas of suicide, and a flat have an effect on with little emotion.
In response to Towers, the Duxbury lady describes herself “unbearably depressed” and has been experiencing “intrusive ideas and flashbacks” each day.
Figuring out that Clancy nonetheless poses a critical threat of harming herself, Plymouth Superior Courtroom Decide William Sullivan ordered her to stay dedicated at Tewksbury Hospital and set her subsequent courtroom date for Dec. 15.
E-newsletter Signup
Keep updated on all the newest information from Boston.com