Prosecutors Rest in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial as Defense Calls Family Witnesses
The trial of Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three children, entered its fourth week of testimony on Monday, with prosecutors resting after presenting digital-forensics evidence and the defense calling the victim’s mother, sister, former coworker and an emergency-room doctor.
Prosecutors concluded their case on Monday after a Cellebrite digital-forensics expert testified about data from Clancy’s phone and Apple Watch. The expert, Ian Whiffin, showed that the last heart-rate reading was recorded at 5:23 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2023, and that the device logged the phone moving up two flights of stairs shortly thereafter. He also confirmed Google searches on the phone for terms such as “ketamine for suicidal ideation,” “symptoms of postpartum psychosis” and “children’s laxatives.”
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington then called four witnesses: Dr. Michael Vulfovich, an emergency-medicine physician at Newton-Wellesley Hospital; Paula Musgrove, Clancy’s mother; Allison Ozga, her sister; and Margaret Hamp, a labor-and-delivery nurse who had worked with Clancy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Musgrove testified that she drove from Connecticut to stay with her daughter in early October 2022 after Clancy sent a text saying she was “really sick” and feared being alone while taking anxiety medication. Ozga described Clancy’s mood as “off” and “tired” in the weeks leading up to the killings and recalled that Clancy had expressed daily suicidal thoughts in December. Hamp recounted that Clancy frequently checked on her infant daughter via a baby monitor, once calling police for a wellness check, and that she was emotionally engaged in her work as a nurse.
The defense highlighted a handwritten note found on Clancy’s phone in which she wrote that prescription medications had “stolen my motherhood and my life.” Reddington suggested the phone data could be incomplete, noting that the device might have been turned off or its battery depleted before the murders. The prosecution indicated it will call additional experts to challenge the defense’s mental-health narrative.
Judge William Sullivan dismissed jurors for a lunch recess and will later hear arguments on a motion for a required finding of not guilty, which Clancy’s lawyer has filed based on an insanity defense. The trial continues with both sides preparing further testimony.