Judge William Sullivan sent jurors home on Wednesday, citing “unforeseen circumstances” he refused to explain.
The abrupt halt came on day 16 of the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, 36, at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as the proceedings reached their fourth week. Testimony had already been interrupted once that morning when the judge called attorneys to sidebar shortly after 9 a.m., delaying the start of the session. The court later broke for lunch at 1:22 p.m., with psychologist Dr. Paul Zeizel on the stand for continued cross-examination by prosecutors.
When court resumed at 2:32 p.m., the jury was brought back in only to be dismissed minutes later. “This is not something we saw coming, but you’re not to speculate about what it is,” Sullivan told the panel. He continued: “You’re not to hold it against either side. It’s just something that we have to deal with.” The judge did not elaborate on the cause of the delay, and after counsel on both sides declined to raise any additional matters, he adjourned the trial until Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder for the January 24, 2023, deaths of her children: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. She has admitted to strangling them but denies criminal responsibility, claiming she suffered an episode of postpartum psychosis. The former nurse has appeared throughout the trial in a wheelchair, paralyzed from injuries sustained when she jumped from a second-story window in an alleged suicide attempt on the day of the killings.
Before the dismissal, Zeizel had been undergoing vigorous cross-examination by prosecutor Katie McLaughlin. The psychologist, who has spent 35 hours working with Clancy over 41 months, testified that Clancy suffered from bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis and was “unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law.” Under questioning by defense attorney Kevin Reddington, Zeizel described Clancy as having intrusive thoughts that were “unrelenting” and voices telling her to kill herself. He said she called a suicide hotline twice in December 2022 and was turned away both times because she lacked a specific plan.
The prosecution pressed Zeizel on whether Clancy had ever told her medical providers about hearing a voice instructing her to kill herself prior to January 24, 2023. “It’s not in the records,” Zeizel acknowledged. McLaughlin also questioned him about confirmation bias and his relationship with Clancy, noting he had written a letter to the court requesting transportation accommodations for “his patient” and had participated in a press conference about the case. Zeizel maintained that he had not let his compassion for Clancy compromise his professional judgment.
Earlier Wednesday, the court heard testimony from Emily Thorndike, a licensed clinical social worker and former McLean Hospital employee, during a voir dire held without the jury present. Thorndike testified that staffing was reduced on holidays and weekends, with only one doctor for 23 patients, and that individual therapy was not provided on the unit where Clancy had been treated. Judge Sullivan ultimately ruled that Thorndike could not testify before the jury, finding the materiality of her testimony limited because she had not worked at McLean during Clancy’s admission more than a year later.
In the viral moment that launched this case, Clancy strangled her three children in their Duxbury home on January 24, 2023, then attempted to kill herself by jumping from a window, according to prosecutors. Her then-husband Patrick Clancy discovered the scene when he returned from running errands, testifying earlier in the trial that he “saw blood everywhere,” Patrick told jurors that his wife had been spiraling since December 2022, losing weight and expressing thoughts of suicide and harming the children. About a week after the killings, Clancy called him from the hospital and spoke not about the children but about “what she went through,” claiming she heard a man’s voice telling her that if she didn’t act, she would lose her chance.
Closing arguments could begin as early as Monday, with each side allotted 30 minutes. If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy faces life without parole; if found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would be committed to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday morning in Plymouth.