Lindsay Clancy started crying before a medical examiner took the stand Wednesday in the Duxbury mom’s triple murder trial. Dr. Renee Stonebridge, from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, testified to her examination of all three of Clancy’s children – Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months.
Clancy allegedly strangled them in January of 2023, then tried to kill herself by jumping out of a two-story window. She’s paralyzed and sits in a wheelchair in the courtroom.
The DA’s office has been presenting its case against her for nearly three weeks. Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington won’t dispute the killings when he gets the chance to defend his client. Instead, he plans to argue that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and can’t be held criminally responsible for the deaths.
On Wednesday, Reddington objected to Stonebridge taking the sand.
“Testimony is not necessary,” he said to Judge William Sullivan, who allowed the witness to be called.
Clancy was already sobbing by the time the doctor was sworn in.
The defendant has broken down a few times during the trial so far: when prosecutors played a 911 call from the night of the killings, testimony from doctors and first responders who tried to save the children, and the last time a medical examiner took the stand to discuss Callan’s autopsy.
Stonebridge described her examination of the three children in detailed, clinical terms. Clancy’s crying was audible in the courtroom, and when the witness stepped down, Sullivan called a brief recess.
When the jury was called back in, Sullivan repeated a warning about the emotional nature of the testimony.
“Sometimes there’s evidence that’s presented at a trial that creates an emotional reaction, but as jurors that have taken an oath to follow the law, you must separate reaction,” he said. “The verdict in this case is going to need to be solely based on evidence.”
Then another medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Olson, took the stand.
Olson also used detailed, clinical terms to describe Cora’s injuries on her neck. Clancy’s sobs grew louder and louder.
“I can’t do it,” she said.
Sullivan called another recess. He said they’d be back after the break to talk scheduling, and it seemed proceedings might end for the day.
As Clancy’s parents walked out of the courtroom, crying, a member of the public told them she was sorry they had to go through this.
About 10 minutes later, court was back in session and Clancy was in the courtroom, too, without the jury.
The defense and prosecution went to the sidebar. Sullivan looked animated while he spoke, but white noise played in the courtroom so that their conversation couldn’t be heard.
The jury came back in and Olson continued.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague published autopsy photos to the jury’s screens.
The photos weren’t shown to the public or displayed on the screen at Clancy’s desk.
At least one person on the jury started crying. Clancy kept her head down on her desk, as she sobbed.
Sprague pressed Olson about the amount of time someone would need to have pressure on their neck to kill them, and Olson said it could just be 30 seconds once the brain cells have started to die.
“And there’s no coming back from that?” Sprague asked.
“It’s very unlikely (without medical intervention),” Olson said. She noted that the time can be variable.
Sprague tried to refer to other testimony from Olson that didn’t match that response, but Reddington objected, saying that the doctor had already answered.
The ADA said it went to inconsistency.
“It’s your witness,” Sullivan said, sustaining the objection.
Sprague moved onto a different line of questioning.
“Is that painful?” she asked.
“There is a component of pain present when loss of consciousness occurs,” Olson answered.
Then Sprague turned to Dawson’s autopsy.
Olson went through the injuries again and said that both Dawson and Cora died by asphyxia.
Reddington declined to cross-examine Olson or Stonebridge.
Court ended for the day. Testimony is scheduled to start up again Thursday morning.
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Colleen Cronin; Boston Herald; (TNS) || ©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
