DEDHAM, Mass. — Wednesday’s court hearing in Dedham was the first step in Patrick Clancy’s wrongful death lawsuit against the mental health professionals who treated his wife, Lindsay Clancy.
Lindsay Clancy is accused of the strangulation deaths of their three young children in their Duxbury home in January 2023.
Lindsay’s triple murder trial ended in a mistrial, but Patrick Clancy’s civil suit is now moving forward.
At this hearing, Patrick’s lawyer argued that Lindsay herself will take the stand to testify that she told mental health professionals that she was having thoughts of harming her children.
“We believe that Lindsay Clancy, once her Fifth Amendment rights are resolved, one way or another, will testify that she told these defendants explicitly that she had homicidal ideation, that she was worried about something awful happening to her kids,” attorney Howard Cooper told the court.
Though Lindsay’s criminal lawyer, Kevin Reddington, almost immediately issued a statement saying that’s not true, and Lindsay is not taking the stand.
“Lindsay Clancy never told any of her healthcare providers that she harbored homicidal ideation toward her children. She never indicated that she intended to testify in Mr. Clancy’s lawsuit, and no one acting for her ever represented that she would,” the statement read.
Boston criminal defense attorney Elyse Hershon told Boston 25’s Bob Ward that she agrees with Reddington’s approach.
“If I’m the defense attorney in a criminal case, I’m saying no way,” Hershon said.
“There’s no way you would let her take the stand?” Ward asked.
“Absolutely not,” she said.
Hershon added that Lindsay Clancy would have too much to lose on the stand.
According to her attorney, Lindsay Clancy is still on suicide watch at Tewksbury State Hospital.
“Where the criminal trial is still active, she is still actively facing these legal charges, these criminal charges of murder; it is not a good idea,” Hershon explained. “She has to think about herself. Her own protection and her own mental health. And both of those things could be in jeopardy if she were to take the stand.”
Lindsay Clancy is expected to appear Monday in Plymouth Superior Court for her pretrial hearing in her criminal case.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz has not announced if he will seek to retry Lindsay Clancy for the murder of her three children.
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer has argued that Lindsay was in the throes of postpartum psychosis and is not criminally responsible for the deaths of the children.
Clancy claims her mental health professionals failed to properly treat her anxiety and depression in the months before the deaths, which led to psychosis.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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