Court Shields Crucial Evidence in Heartbreaking Triple-Murder Trial of Mom Lindsay Clancy

In Massachusetts, a judge has taken a significant step by partly approving a bereaved father’s plea to protect particularly graphic evidence expected in the murder trial of his former wife. The woman stands accused of the chilling crime of strangling their young children within the sanctity of their home.

On Friday, Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan decreed that the incendiary 911 call made by Patrick Clancy, along with harrowing autopsy photos of their young children—5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan—cannot be recorded, displayed, reproduced, or shared by the media or the public.

Despite these restrictions, this evidence will still be introduced to the jurors during Lindsay Clancy’s trial, as court proceedings begin. Opening statements are set to launch the trial’s public phase on Monday.

Although journalists are permitted to report on the content heard or observed in the courtroom, they are explicitly prohibited from broadcasting or publishing the recordings or images themselves, in accordance with the judge’s concise two-page ruling.

Patrick Clancy had asked Sullivan to restrict the public and media’s ability to record, broadcast or distribute evidence, including the 911 call, family and crime-scene photographs, autopsy images and the clothing the children were wearing.

Sullivan’s order specifically bars the reproduction or dissemination of the 911 recording and autopsy photographs. It does not prevent prosecutors or the defense from introducing the evidence at trial.

Sullivan wrote that the release or reproduction of the material would create a “substantial likelihood of harm” or another harmful consequence for Patrick Clancy and the children’s family.

Sullivan issued the ruling after hearing arguments from attorneys representing Patrick Clancy, prosecutors and Lindsay Clancy. Boston Globe Media Partners also filed a response opposing aspects of the request, according to the order.

Patrick Clancy’s 911 call is expected to provide jurors with an account of what he encountered after returning to the family’s home on Jan. 24, 2023, when the children were found unresponsive.

Lindsay Clancy is charged with murder in the January 2023 deaths of her three children inside their Duxbury, Massachusetts home.

Prosecutors allege Clancy strangled the children inside the family’s home before attempting to take her own life. Her attorneys have argued that she was suffering from severe mental illness and postpartum psychosis at the time.

A jury of 18 people — 12 women and six men — was seated Thursday after several days of questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and whether they could remain impartial.

Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in Plymouth Superior Court.