(This story was updated to add new information and a photo gallery.)
As their daughter faced a judge in person for the first time on the afternoon of Friday Feb. 20, the parents of Duxbury mother Lindsay Clancy were also at Plymouth Superior Court on Friday afternoon.
Clancy, 35, faces charges in the strangling deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan in January 2023 in her Duxbury home. She has pleaded not guilty.
“She’s a loving mother. Always has been,” Paula Musgrove said after the 20-minute hearing concluded. She was unable to say more, holding back tears.
“We love our daughter very much,” Mike Musgrove said.
Clancy became paraplegic when she harmed herself and jumped out of a second-story window at her home that day, a little more than three years ago.
The subject of how to transport her between Tewksbury Hospital, where she has been held since May 2023, and the courthouse for her trial has been discussed over several hearings. Clancy has appeared at her hearings via Zoom.
Clancy was transported to the courthouse on Obery Street for the 2 p.m. hearing by a Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office wheelchair van. Despite initially objecting, defense attorney Kevin Reddington expressed appreciation for the court personnel, sheriff’s office, Tewksbury Hospital and all others involved in getting his client to court. Nurses and EMTs were sitting in the courtroom gallery on standby.
Clancy was wheeled into the courtroom, wearing all black attire, a silver cross on a chain and her hair pin-straight. She only spoke when greeting the judge and answering Reddington when he asked if she preferred to appear in person for the next hearing on March 2.
Clancy was originally set to appear in person for a court hearing in early January, but how she would be transported was still under debate.
There are about 64 miles between the state psychiatric hospital and the Obery Street courthouse, a distance that can take more than an hour to travel. Second Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Sprague asked the court during a hearing on Jan. 27 whether Clancy would be relocated closer during the trial. Judge William F. Sullivan responded that “there’d be no change in the custody situation.”
On Thursday, Feb. 19, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, filed three motions requesting a bifurcated trial, videotaping of Clancy’s interview by the Commonwealth’s psychiatric expert and early access to a pool of potential jurors.
The hearing on Friday briefly touched on the videotaping of the interview, which both parties agreed to but the Commonwealth is concerned about recording proprietary testing information. All three of the defense’s motions will be fully heard in March. The counsels also discussed setting an additional pre-trial hearing in mid-June.
What is a bifurcated trial?
A bifurcated trial seeks to separate certain issues within a case or to distinguish liability and damages into two jury phases.
Reddington requested that the first phase of the trial focus on the Commonwealth proving beyond a reasonable doubt whether she is guilty and to what degree. The second phase would focus on if it can be proved that Clancy was not “suffering from a mental disease or defect” such that she was “unable to appreciate the criminality of her conduct or conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.
Following the hearing, Reddington told media outlets that the request stemmed from his belief that the Commonwealth would “beat the drum on the facts of the case to focus on the facts of the alleged crime,” but he felt Clancy’s state of mind should be taken into consideration.
Reddington has previously said that his client “does intend to present to the Court a defense of lack of criminal responsibility,” which is the legal term for what is most often referred to as an insanity plea or defense.
When is Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial?
With possession of all of the necessary records from Tewksbury Hospital, Sprague told the court in January that it could take between three and four months for experts to review those records and evaluate Clancy.
Sullivan emphasized that there would be no more trial extensions.
“I know all the counsels have been working very hard in this case. But we now have all the records, got the experts lined up, we have the trial date,” he said.
The trial has been moved three times. It was originally set to begin Dec. 1, 2025, but was pushed to Jan. 5, 2026, then to Feb. 6, and more recently to July 20 in order to receive records and conduct evaluations.
“That date’s a hard date,” Sullivan said of the July trial.
Civil lawsuits in the Lindsay Clancy case
In a separate civil lawsuit filed Thursday, Jan. 22, Clancy alleges that her medical providers negligently worsened her mental health condition as she continually sought care after the birth of her third child by overprescribing and not properly monitoring her condition.
The lawsuit claims Clancy suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder with postpartum onset, leading to a psychotic break.
What life looked like for Lindsay Clancy four days before her children’s deaths
Four days before her children’s deaths, Lindsay Clancy searched “what is a psychopath?” to learn about the traits and to see if they applied to her, according to the civil lawsuit she filed. On Jan. 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy awoke with suicidal thoughts and severe depression. She made her children breakfast, took one to the pediatrician and built a snowman with her children in their backyard.
She continued to experience hallucinations and, when her husband left to pick up take-out dinner, the voice told her “this is your last chance” and to kill her children and herself, the lawsuit said. She said in the lawsuit that she “lost all control” and her “body started acting without any control.” She told her children, “Go to God, baby,” as she strangled them, her lawsuit says
Her husband, Patrick Clancy, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his wife’s medical practitioners two days earlier.
How is Lindsay Clancy’s physical health?
Clancy does not have any feeling below her sternum, Reddington said at a January court hearing, citing a Jan. 2 letter from a physician’s assistant. The letter goes further, saying that Clancy can transfer herself between her wheelchair and hospital bed, but may have difficulty doing so in unfamiliar settings.
Reddington said on Friday that his client was “nervous and scared.” But he wanted to slowly acclimate her to the court process and “to be immersed in the case and know what’s going on.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to be put in touch with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org.
