“What I can’t fathom is the district attorney’s intent to put a circus in front of this jury that is calculated to just inflame the passions of the jury,” Reddington said.
He said he also supported a request by Clancy’s former husband, Patrick, to prevent the public release of some of the evidence that will be presented to jurors, including autopsy photos of his children and a recording of a 911 call he made on the night of the slayings in January 2023.
Patrick Clancy, 38, who is expected to be the first witness called to testify Monday, has remarried and is “trying to move on with his life,” Reddington said. But, he’s being hounded by some tabloid media outlets, according to Reddington, who accused prosecutors of wanting to “put that guy on the stand and show little onesies” his children were wearing when they were killed.
“I think it’s reprehensible the way the government is trying this case,” Reddington said.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, who alleges Lindsay Clancy premeditated the brutal murders, countered that the defense is trying to “whitewash” the gruesome facts of the case.
Lindsay Clancy, 35, strangled all three of her children with exercise bands in the basement of her Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023, cut her neck and wrists, and jumped out a second-story window in an unsuccessful attempt to kill herself.
The former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital admits she killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. But she has pleaded not guilty to three first-degree murder charges, saying she was in the throes of severe postpartum mental illness.
Sprague has accused Lindsay Clancy of deliberately sending her then-husband out to pick up takeout at a restaurant that was far enough away to give her time to kill their children.
Prosecutors plan to play the recording of the 911 call by Patrick Clancy after he found his injured wife outside the home, then his discovery of his children’s lifeless bodies in the basement.
During Thursday’s hearing, Sprague said there was a massive response by police, fire and EMTs as they desperately tried to save the children, and tend to Lindsay Clancy and her distraught husband who also went to the hospital. As a result, she said, prosecutors must call many witnesses.
“The Commonwealth did not choose the number of victims, the defendant did,” Sprague said.
She added that if Reddington wants the prosecution to reduce the number of witnesses, it would require not talking about one of the victims.
“So if he would like me to not talk about one of the children … tell me which one of these children don’t matter,” Sprague said.
Judge William F. Sullivan denied the defense request to limit the number of prosecution witnesses, saying, “I’m not telling the Commonwealth how to try their case.”
He took under advisement the request by Patrick Clancy’s lawyer to impound the 911 recording, autopsy photos, and other exhibits that will be presented to jurors. He said he expects to rule on that Friday.
Attorney David Meier, who represents Patrick Clancy, requested a sidebar, where his motion was discussed at length with the judge, prosecutors, and Reddington out of earshot of the public and members of the media seated in the spectator section.
Afterward, in open court, Meier argued that the harm to Patrick Clancy caused by the public release of some exhibits outweighed the public’s right to access them.
Meier also is urging the judge to bar the release of any photos and videos shown to jurors of the Clancy children when they were alive, and photos of the clothing they were wearing when they were slain.
Jury selection, which was held over four days, was completed Thursday, but not without a setback earlier in the day. Two jurors, a man and a woman, who had been seated earlier, returned to court saying they couldn’t serve.
The two were questioned separately at sidebar by Sullivan, prosecutors, and Clancy’s lawyer.
Their reasons for seeking removal weren’t publicly disclosed, but it appeared the man was concerned about the financial strain of missing work for a lengthy trial.
He could be overheard saying, “50 bucks a day,“ which is the amount of compensation the state pays a juror starting on the fourth day they serve on a jury. Employers are required to pay jurors their salary for the first three days they serve, according to the state’s website.
Sullivan excused the two jurors. Earlier in the week, he excused another juror who also returned to court a day after being selected, seeking removal from the panel.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @shelleymurph.
