Lindsay Clancy’s internet searches were not the innocent actions of a distressed mother, according to the prosecutor making the final case for three murder convictions. During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague claimed that Clancy researched children’s medication and calculated how long it would take her husband to collect dinner because she needed to know how much time she would have alone. Sprague argued that the searches, combined with Clancy’s conduct before and after the killings, showed she planned the deaths and understood that her actions were wrong.
Clancy asked her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24, 2023, to pick up takeout food and medicine. Before he left, she reportedly looked up the distance and time required to complete the errands. The defense argues that Clancy wanted Patrick to return quickly because she was in distress and needed help caring for their three young children.
Sprague rejected that explanation during the Commonwealth’s closing argument, according to CNN. “If you’re in distress, don’t send him anywhere. Make food at home. Have him cook. Get delivery,” the assistant district attorney said.
Sprague argued that Clancy needed Patrick out of the house but also needed to determine how much time his errands would give her. “What she needed to know was how long, specifically on that night, it would take to get there, because she knew she would have a limited amount of time to do what she wanted to do, and what she had decided to do was to kill the children and then kill herself,” she told jurors.
Prosecutor Says Clancy Knew Right From Wrong
5Clancy is accused of strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan with exercise bands while Patrick was away. Her defense does not dispute that she killed the children. Instead, her attorneys argue that postpartum psychosis left her unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions or control her behavior.
Sprague maintained that Clancy’s conduct throughout January 24 demonstrated the opposite. “Everything that happened that day, every person she interacted with, every situation she was in, shows you she knew the difference between right and wrong, and she could conform her behavior to the law,” Sprague said.
That morning, Clancy took Cora to a scheduled medical appointment. The doctor who examined the child reportedly observed nothing concerning about Clancy’s behavior.
Later, Clancy played in the snow with two of the children in the family’s backyard and sent photographs to relatives. The prosecutor presented those ordinary activities as evidence that Clancy remained capable of regulating her behavior and functioning in public before the killings.
Her January Activities Become Evidence For The Prosecution
5Sprague also pointed to videos and testimony documenting Clancy’s behavior during the weeks leading up to the children’s deaths. “All throughout January (2023), she’s showing her ability to know right from wrong, and to conform her behavior to the requirements of the law in all the activities she does in January,” Sprague argued.
Video evidence reportedly showed Clancy organizing a birthday party and supervising her children. Sprague described her actions as “typical mom birthday stuff,” noting “Everyone that interacted with her said, ‘Seems a little tired, but OK.”
Sprague also discussed a family visit to the Museum of Science in Boston, arguing that Clancy managed a busy and potentially stressful public environment successfully. “The Museum of Science in Boston can be crowded and overwhelming on a good day, and she’s there with three kids under 5 with her husband. You see her monitoring them, caring for them, doing the exhibits, showing them what to do with the exhibits,” Sprague said.
Prosecutor Claims Lindsay Clancy’s Calm Behavior Showed She Was In Control
5She claimed Clancy’s outward behavior did not suggest she was unable to control herself. “If you watched that video and you didn’t know who the Clancy family was, and we asked you to pick out the woman who is depressed. Pick out the woman who wants to kill herself. Pick out the woman who is about to kill her kids. You couldn’t pick her out,” she added.
The defense maintains that a person can appear functional to others while privately experiencing severe mental illness. “She’s completely calm. All her behaviors are typical and normal because she’s able to control her behavior,” she said.
The defense maintains that a person can appear functional to others while privately experiencing severe mental illness.
Clancy Allegedly Withheld Thoughts From Mandated Reporters
5Sprague also focused on whom Clancy told about thoughts of harming her children. The prosecutor said Clancy disclosed those thoughts to Patrick and her mother in early December but did not report them to her healthcare providers. “She had those thoughts at the beginning of December of harming her kids, and she told (then-husband) Patrick and her mother about them,” Sprague said. “But who she didn’t tell is important and very telling.”
Sprague argued that Clancy avoided telling healthcare workers because they were mandated reporters who might have contacted authorities to protect the children. “That’s a rational thought. That telling mandated reporters that you’re having a thought of harming your kids, that they might be taken away for their safety. That’s a rational thought,” the prosecutor said.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder. Jurors must now decide whether the searches and her other actions demonstrate intentional planning, or whether severe mental illness left her not criminally responsible for the deaths.