Duxbury woman to remain hospitalized while awaiting trial for allegedly killing her 3 children

Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury resident accused of killing her three children in the family's home, will continue to be held without bail at Tewksbury Hospital, where she is being treated for mental health issues and physical injuries. Her attorney said her injuries have left her paralyzed from the waist down.

During her arraignment at the hospital Thursday, Clancy, 33, appeared in a wheelchair and wore a medical mask. She was alert and responded clearly when asked for her plea to the murder charges against her.

"Not guilty," she said.

A grand jury has indicted Clancy, a former Mass General Brigham nurse, on charges of strangling her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and 8-month-old infant Callan in January.

The night of the murders, Clancy's husband found her found lying in the backyard after she appeared to have cut her wrists and neck, and jumped from a second-story bedroom window.

The case has drawn attention to the issue of treatment for postpartum depression. Clancy's attorneys have argued that at the time of the killings, she had been struggling with her mental health and was taking a number of medications.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington testified Thursday that Clancy is a "troubled soul" who sought treatment for postpartum depression after the birth of her third child. He said she should not be held in jail.

"She was in such a state as a result of the postpartum, as well as the medication that she was on, that her husband had to have her mother and father, and his mother and father, basically stay at the house for weeks," Reddington said.

Reddington told the judge he had difficulty getting Clancy's medical records from her physicians. He said the doctors now have legal representation.

Prosecutors pointed out that medical experts testified to a grand jury that the medications Clancy was prescribed would not have caused psychosis, and said she deliberately planned the murders.

Assistant Plymouth County District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said Clancy sent her husband out to get takeout food and medicine to give her time to kill the children.

"She planned these murders, she gave herself the time and privacy to commit these murders, and she killed these children in their home where they should have been safe," Sprague said.

A court forensic psychologist, Dr. Karin Towers, recommended that Clancy remain at the hospital. Towers said she virtually examined Clancy Thursday and determined that Clancy is experiencing depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide.

"She indicated to me that she remains on one-to-one observation status due to ongoing concerns about her risk of harm to herself, so I would recommend further hospitalization," Towers said.

Superior Court Judge William Sullivan said Clancy could remain hospitalized for up to six months. Another court date is scheduled in December.

After the hearing, David Meier, an attorney for Clancy's husband Patrick, said his client "did everything humanly possible to save his wife from her struggles."

"In the end, the mental health system failed her and failed their family," Meier said. "Today's events in court do not alter the faith Patrick Clancy has placed in the criminal justice system to speak the truth about what led to this unimaginable tragedy."