Lindsay Clancy murder trial: Who is Patrick Clancy?
Plymouth, Massachusetts - As week three of Lindsay Clancy's murder trial kicks off, where she's accused of killing her three kids before jumping from the second floor of her home, social media users continue to discuss the case at length and its cast of characters, such as LIndsay's former husband, Patrick Clancy.
Monday at Plymouth Superior Court started with testimony from Lindsay's former psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who was cross-examined by Clancy's defense team. Clancy is on trial for strangling her three kids to death on January 24, 2023: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy.
But part of the chatter surrounding the case involves matters outside of the courtroom, like what Lindsay's ex-husband, Patrick, has been up to since the killings of their three young children, and the timeline of his new relationship.
Patrick first appeared on the stand in court on July 27 as the prosecution's first witness. Though he's since remarried and now lives in New York City, he spoke kindly of his ex-wife, despite the circumstances, and was honest about her admitting to him that she had desires to harm the kids.
Yet, pubic interest on TikTok keeps circling back to questions about his personal life in the years since that fateful day in January 2023. Patrick currently works at Microsoft and lives in a Manhattan high-rise with his new wife (as of April), Dr. Rachel Danis, a fertility specialist, according to reports by the New York Post.
Though the records are not public, NBC's Boston TV station, 10 Boston, reported in July that Patrick and Lindsay are divorced. It is unclear when the papers were filed and when the divorce was finalized.
Patrick is said to have returned from running errands on January 24, 2023, to find his then-wife, Lindsay, injured in the backyard after she had jumped from a second-story window. He then found their three children in the basement, unresponsive.
Lindsay, a native of Wallingford, Connecticut, and a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, was paralyzed from the waist down following the jump.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial: What is her defense?
From a hospital bed, Lindsay Clancy was officially arraigned on February 7, 2023, and charged with two counts of homicide and three counts of strangulation. She entered a not guilty plea at the arraignment.
While her defense team is not disputing that she committed the physical acts of murder, they are maintaining her not guilty plea, arguing that she was not criminally responsible for her actions due to suffering from severe, undiagnosed postpartum psychosis, which was escalated due to a rapidly changing regimen of prescription drugs.
Jury selection for Lindsay's murder trial started on July 20, and the jury was selected on July 22. The first day of the trial was July 27, which kicked off with opening statements.
One of the more emotional days of the trial came on July 29, when the prosecution played the recording of the 911 call Patrick made after discovering Lindsay outside on January 24, 2023. He was on the phone with emergency dispatch when he discovered his three young children unresponsive in the basement, frantically telling the operator, "She killed the kids," per reports by the Associated Press.
Lindsay broke down in tears as the audio was played, as did several members of the jury. Though the audio of the call was played for the jury, prosecutors, defense team, and courtroom attendees, it was muted on public livestreams.
Though Patrick testified in court that Lindsay had told him she was experiencing suicidal thoughts and intrusive thoughts about harming their kids after her meds were changed in December 2022, her psychiatrist, Dr. Tufts, testified that when asked during evaluations if she was having thoughts of hurting herself or her kids, Lindsay answered "No."
Lindsay's murder trial could last anywhere from four to eight weeks. Her defense team, which includes attorney Kevin Reddington, has not indicated that Lindsay will take the stand.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS