Where Is Lindsay Clancy Now? Hospital, Plea, and Insanity Defense

Lindsay Clancy is currently being held without bail at Tewksbury State Hospital in Massachusetts, where she has been since May 2023 while awaiting trial on charges that she murdered her three young children at their Duxbury home in January 2023. Clancy, now 35, is paralyzed from the sternum down after jumping from a second-story window on the night of the killings. Jury selection in her murder trial is scheduled to begin July 20, 2026, at Plymouth Superior Court.¹²

Why She’s at Tewksbury State Hospital

Clancy was transferred to Tewksbury in May 2023 after doctors determined she needed extended mental health care.³ She has remained there ever since, under one-to-one observation because of continued risk of self-harm. In October 2023, court forensic psychologist Dr. Karin Towers recommended continued hospitalization due to Clancy’s ongoing depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and Judge William Sullivan authorized her to stay at the facility.⁴

She uses a wheelchair and requires full-time care. When she appeared in court on June 18, 2026, a court officer pushed her into the courtroom. She wore black, kept her eyes down through the proceeding, and did not speak beyond greeting the judge.²⁵

The Charges and Her Plea

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office charged Clancy with three counts of murder, three counts of strangulation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.⁶ She has pleaded not guilty.⁷

Prosecutors allege that on the evening of January 24, 2023, Clancy strangled her three children — five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan — with exercise bands after sending her husband, Patrick Clancy, out to pick up takeout from a distant restaurant. Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead that night. Callan died three days later, on January 27, at Boston Children’s Hospital. After the attacks, officials say, Clancy cut her own wrists and neck and then jumped from a second-story window, surviving but leaving herself permanently paralyzed.⁸⁹¹⁰

The Insanity Defense

Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, is pursuing an insanity defense. His team has indicated it may stipulate that Clancy was responsible for the children’s deaths but will argue she was not criminally responsible, saying she was in the grip of a psychotic break brought on by postpartum mental illness and what Reddington has called “horrific overmedication.”¹¹

According to the defense and to a separate malpractice lawsuit Clancy filed in January 2026, she was started on Zoloft in the fall of 2022 and had severe adverse reactions. Doctors then cycled her through additional drugs including Ativan, Benadryl, Klonopin, Ambien, Remeron, and eventually the antipsychotic Seroquel. The defense says her condition deteriorated sharply after Seroquel was added, and that she began experiencing suicidal thoughts and auditory hallucinations. Reddington has said Clancy heard a man’s voice telling her to kill the children.¹²¹³

The defense retained forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick to evaluate her, and a separate forensic evaluation by Dr. Margaret Spinelli resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Spinelli concluded that antidepressants can create manic symptoms and mood instability in a person with an underlying bipolar condition.¹²

Reddington asked for a bifurcated trial, one phase for guilt and a second for criminal responsibility. Judge Sullivan denied the request, ruling that a single trial was the “most efficient, less confusing path forward.”¹⁴

The Prosecution’s Theory

Prosecutors argue the killings were planned and deliberate rather than the product of psychosis. They point to conduct they characterize as calculated: sending Patrick to a faraway restaurant, checking his estimated return time using Apple Maps, and the sustained physical effort strangulation required. They have also noted that Clancy did not report hallucinations to anyone until after she had met with her defense team.¹⁵

The prosecution’s witness list runs to 168 people. Planned evidence includes autopsy and crime scene photographs, a 3D model of the Clancy home, Patrick Clancy’s 911 call, and potentially a courtroom demonstration of blood pattern analysis by forensic analyst Sherri Crook.⁸¹⁶

Pretrial Rulings Shaping the Case

Judge William F. Sullivan has issued a series of rulings that define how the trial will proceed.

In November 2025, the judge denied the defense’s motion to move the trial from Plymouth County to Boston over media coverage concerns, but granted a five-month delay, setting jury selection for July 20, 2026.¹⁷
Guilt and criminal responsibility will be decided in a single trial rather than bifurcated phases.¹⁴
Prosecutors will be allowed to show photographs of the children both alive and from autopsy, along with a 3D model of the home.²
Jurors will visit the former Clancy residence on Summer Street in Duxbury. The current homeowner objected, but the judge approved the visit and plans to block off the street to address privacy concerns.¹⁸
The judge indicated he is inclined to allow Patrick Clancy’s full 911 recording to be played, though he reserved a final decision pending his own review of the audio. Reddington said there was “no basis to object” while calling the call “horrific.”¹⁹
Witnesses will be sequestered, with an exception for Clancy’s parents and sister because of their extensive involvement with the mental health professionals who treated her.⁸
Only medical experts may discuss Clancy’s mental health diagnosis at trial.²

Related Civil Lawsuits

In January 2026, Clancy filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in Norfolk Superior Court naming six defendants: psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer A. Tufts, nurse practitioner Rebecca H. Jollotta, Aster Mental Health Inc., South Shore Health System Inc., McLean Hospital, and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. The complaint alleges a “catastrophic failure” to diagnose her bipolar disorder, coordinate her care, and monitor the effects of the medications prescribed to her. It seeks more than $1 million in damages.²⁰¹³

Her husband, Patrick Clancy, filed a separate wrongful death lawsuit against several of the same providers, alleging they failed to recognize the “radical erosion” of his wife’s mental health despite being aware of her suicidal ideation and deteriorating psychiatric condition.²¹ Patrick has publicly asked for forgiveness for his wife, telling The New Yorker in October 2024, “I wasn’t married to a monster — I was married to someone who got sick.”¹⁵ Prosecutors have since sought notes and recordings from that interview, arguing Patrick relayed statements Lindsay made about the crime that she has not made to law enforcement.²²

What Happens at Trial

Jury selection is set for July 20, 2026, at Plymouth Superior Court before Judge Sullivan. The defense plans to call roughly 50 witnesses; the prosecution’s list totals 168. Prosecutors estimate the trial could run up to two months, while other estimates put it at four to six weeks.¹⁶² The central question for jurors is whether Clancy committed premeditated murder or whether mental illness and medication left her without criminal responsibility for what she did.

1
The Patriot Ledger. Lindsay Clancy Court Autopsy Photos 911 Call Patrick Clancy
2
WCVB. Lindsay Clancy Pretrial Hearing June 18 2026
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WCVB. Lindsay Clancy Moved to Tewksbury State Hospital
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WBUR. Duxbury Massachusetts Lindsay Clancy Trial
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People. Lindsay Clancy Appears in Court Judge Approves Jurors Visit to Home
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Plymouth County District Attorney. Duxbury Woman Arraigned in Murder of Her Three Children
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Yahoo News. Lindsay Clancy Case Court Today
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Mass Lawyers Weekly. Lindsay Clancy Murder Case Pretrial Rulings
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WCVB. Funeral Clancy Children
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NBC Boston. Lindsay Clancy Court Hearing Live Stream Updates
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Court TV. Lindsay Clancy’s Attorney Cites Karen Read in Bid for Discovery
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Court TV. Lindsay Clancy Details Moments of Kids Murders in New Lawsuit
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Boston.com. Lindsay Clancy Malpractice Lawsuit
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Court TV. Judge Denies Lindsay Clancy’s Request to Split Trial in 2 Phases
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The New Yorker. A Husband in the Aftermath of His Wife’s Unfathomable Act
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Court TV. Lindsay Clancy Trial Could Go for Weeks and May Include a Jury Home Tour
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Boston 25 News. Judge Denies Request Move Lindsay Clancy’s Murder Trial Agrees Delay Start
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Court TV. Defense Fights Voodoo Forensics in Lindsay Clancy’s Murder Trial
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Boston.com. Livestream Lindsay Clancy Final Pretrial Conference
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WCVB. Lindsay Clancy Lawsuit Medical Providers Malpractice
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NBC Boston. Lindsay Clancy Husband Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Doctors
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MassLive. Lindsay Clancy Case Prosecutors Seek Husband’s Statements to New Yorker