Lindsay Clancy’s Secret Wheelchair Message Sparks Fury

As jury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy trial stretch into a sixth day in Massachusetts, attention has shifted from the courtroom arguments to an unexpected detail on her wheelchair — one that some legal observers say may prove unhelpful.

A pink sticker bearing the phrase “#sidebah” was photographed this week on the drink holder attached to Clancy’s wheelchair by the court’s official photographer.

The wording appears to play off the way Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, pronounces “sidebar” in his Boston accent. The phrase has since taken on a life of its own online, circulating as a satirical meme among people following the trial.

Sidebars — private bench conferences between the judge and attorneys that are not heard by jurors or the public — have been a frequent feature of the highly charged proceedings, with prosecutors and the defense repeatedly clashing with Judge William Sullivan.

Outside court on Thursday, supporters of Clancy told the Daily Mail they viewed the sticker as a lighthearted nod to Reddington, who has become a prominent figure among those backing the accused child murderer during the case.

But California legal analyst Neama Rahmani, who is not involved in the trial, warned the sticker could be interpreted as Clancy making light of the proceedings. 

Florida-based attorney Andrea Lewis agreed and said the sticker could affect the deadlocked jury’s thinking if they were to see it.

‘A trial about the deaths of three children is not the place for jokes. A sticker may seem insignificant, but jurors see everything and may view that as a sign that she is not taking the trial seriously. That is an enormous risk to take when your life is literally on the line,’ Lewis said.

The panel of nine women and three men has been unable to reach a unanimous verdict after 36 hours of deliberations. There appears to be an 11-1 split among jurors. 

Clancy is accused of murdering her three children by strangling them with exercise bands in January 2023. She has admitted to the killings but insists she is not guilty of murder because she was in the grip of severe postpartum psychosis at the time.

She is now paralyzed from the waist down after having jumped from her second-story bedroom in an apparent suicide attempt immediately after the killings.

Tara Mill, 59, a nursing assistant from Plymouth, Massachusetts, who was outside court on Thursday supporting Clancy, explained the origin of the #sidebah meme.

‘Oh, it’s kind of a joke, because of Reddington, him saying “I really don’t want to go to the sidebah”. So people are making memes out of that,’ Mill said.

Mill added that she had seen the phrase repeatedly on TikTok.

The phrase appears to have first emerged online in 2024 during the high-profile Karen Read murder trial, which was also held in Massachusetts, but its usage has been particularly widespread in recent months amid the global fascination with Clancy’s case.

Caryn Marshall, 52, a labor and delivery nurse and mother who lives in Duxbury, where the killings took place at the Clancy family home, was also outside court on Thursday.

She described Reddington as something of an unlikely folk hero.

‘He’s a really good, intelligent, old school lawyer. Like, they don’t make him like that anymore. He’s amazing to watch. Yeah, you a class confidence and He’s a gentleman. He’s a gentleman first,’ she said.

‘I think everyone should have a Kevin in their corner. That would be my hashtag, Kevin in my corner.’

But many social media critics aren’t seeing the funny side.

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‘Lindsay Clancy has the audacity to put a “joke” sticker “SideBah” on her drink holder?!?!!! Does she think that’s all a joke?!’ one X user wrote.

An aggrieved Reddit user called the sticker ‘absolutely disgusting’.

Lewis, a former prosecutor, told the Daily Mail: ‘Jurors see everything. They notice how a defendant is dressed, her body language, her facial expressions, who she interacts with, and whether she smiles or laughs at a moment that may seem inappropriate. 

‘That scrutiny is particularly intense in a case like this, where the allegations are so disturbing and Lindsay Clancy is sitting just feet away from the jury.

‘Something as small as a sticker may seem insignificant outside the courtroom, but inside it, there really are no small details. Fairly or unfairly, jurors are constantly observing the Lindsay and forming impressions from everything they see.’

Rahmani, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, said he ultimately believed the sticker was ‘harmless’ and unlikely to sway jurors either way.

‘It’s a local Massachusetts jury, so I don’t think a wheelchair sticker is going to move the needle one way or another and get these jurors to come around and reach a verdict. I think we’re marching towards the very high likelihood of a mistrial,’ he said.

This comes as tensions have boiled over amid a verdict deadlock, with one holdout juror accused of failing to follow the law. 

On Thursday, a note from the jury foreperson was given to Judge William Sullivan claiming that one of the twelve is not following the law as it pertains to reasonable doubt. 

That development prompted Clancy’s lawyer to request the holdout juror be thrown off the trial. Sullivan denied that request and sent the deadlocked jury home for the evening.

But Rahmani warned that if the case were to end in a mistrial and be retried, prosecutors could potentially use the wheelchair sticker to argue Clancy was not taking the proceedings seriously.

‘You could potentially raise it in opening or closing: she’s not taking it seriously, she thinks this is a joke. That definitely happens a lot. I have used that argument,’ Rahmani said.

He added that such an argument could also be relevant to a judge when determining a sentence, if a defendant appeared not to have sincerely accepted responsibility.

Clancy has appeared largely stone-faced throughout proceedings, but broke down several times during testimony and as graphic evidence was presented to the jury.

Rahmani said: ‘If I were her attorney, I would not want her to make light of the proceedings at all.’

He praised Reddington’s performance in the trial, saying the defense had far exceeded his expectations.

Rahmani said that before the trial he had viewed the case as a ‘layup’ for prosecutors, given how rarely insanity defenses succeed. 

‘I was interviewed about this case weeks before trial, and I said that this would be a layup for the prosecution. As the case progressed, when the closings and the summations finished, I predicted either a not criminally responsible [verdict] or a hung jury. That’s how well the defense has done in this case,’ he said.

‘You play with the hand that you’re dealt [as a defense attorney]. And this was a very difficult hand: three dead children under the age of five.’

Jury deliberations will continue Friday.