A jury is to determine whether Lindsay Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She was being treated for postpartum mental health issues when she killed the children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, who was 8 months old. Plymouth County Superior Court Judge William Sullivan is presiding over the jury trial, which began on July 27 and is expected to last six to eight weeks.
Curated by: Meghann Cuniff (223 videos)
A woman who worked at the psychiatric facility where Lindsay Clancy went before she killed her three children won't testify in her criminal trial, a judge ruled today. Emily Thorndike testified for about 35 minutes outside the jury's presence in a voir dire hearing for Judge William F. Sullivan, who considered the testimony before deciding not to allow Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington to call Thorndike as a witness in front of the jury. Reddington learned of Thorndike through a TikTok video she posted accusing prosecutors of lying about the conditions Clancy faced when she was McLean. 03:09 "Are you familiar with this case of Lindsay Clancy?" "I'm only familiar about it from what I watched before I was sequestered. But other than that, I don't know the case at all." 03:49 "I'm interested in the case. I honestly got into sort of watching trials from the Karen Reed trial, and then I wanted to watch this case. And obviously, well, I worked at McLean, so I was curious to watch it." 07:14 "Tell the judge what the your understanding of the regulations from the DMH would be on staffing." "Yeah, so the Department of Mental Health has to oversee all of the mental health facilities in Massachusetts, and they have specific requirements for safety regulation, for staffing ratios, how the unit has to be set up. You know, for example, you can't. There was a recent. There was a renovation while I was there to adjust handles on a sink because you could use it to harm yourself. So DMH, there's usually an annual or biannual inspection, and they will go around and they will look at charts. They will look at the unit, so they oversee everything." 14:15 "So you understand from watching the proceedings that that you became emotional over, is that Lindsay went in on New Year's Eve with some fairly serious entomology. Is that correct?" "Yes." "And Patrick indicated that they were, quite frankly, pretty bluntly disgusted with the help and the care that was allegedly offered to her. Right?" "Right." "And you were upset about what you felt was a misleading of this witness based on the questions that were asked. Is that right?" "Yes." 15:48 "And then I had a private investigator, Bob Jones, hunt you down, kind of, and ended up in front of your house?" "No, Bob and I were sort of chuckling about that because he never ended up outside of my house, but the rest of it is all accurate. I yeah. So he wasn't outside of my house, but the rest of that was true." 17:05 "In your opinion, is there a change that is significant in the staffing, in the nurse to patient ratio, in the safety issues, the crayons, the coloring, and all of that. Is there any change from that one year that you left to the time that she was in there?" "From the records I reviewed as well, those are exactly the same staffing ratios, and all the groups are the same." "So there's no change whatsoever?" "Not from what I can tell." 17:51 cross-exam by Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham 21:54 "you identified that your in your experience there was three teams: red, green, or blue. ... but you are also aware that the records show that every day during the week, that the treatment team of a social worker and a psychiatrist. There was four social workers and four psychiatrists that were on shift. So where's the fourth?" "So the numbers aren't equal..." 25:43 "As far as your what your knowledge is as mental health specialists, fair to say, the last time you were employed as a mental health specialist there and did that work yourself was in May of 2019?" "Yep." "And then you transitioned to being a social worker, where you worked closely with the psychiatrist and primarily Monday through Friday?" "Yeah, psychiatrists, the nurses, and the mental health specialists-you all really work together." 26:09 "And you can only attest to what you would put in a note, right? As far as your contact with a patient as a social worker?" "No, you have access to all of the patients on the unit, so I'm able, and it's not a HIPAA violation to do that because we all work together." 27:41 "Does McLean tell you that you can only spend 5,10, or 15 minutes with a patient?" "Yes, it's directly told from my the people above me. It's something that's communicated in a way where you could sort of get in trouble if you're not doing that. So yes, it comes directly from McLean." 31:37 Reddington: "I think it's obvious that the witness has the educational background. She certainly has the experience ..." 33:02 Buckingham: "The best evidence of what the defendant was provided by way of care, treatment, however you want to call it, is the record in and of itself." 35:50 Judge ruling "I find that there's limited materiality." 39:17 "So I'm going to deny the defendant's motion to call this witness, but I am going to allow the defendant, if the defendant wishes, to submit those McLean's records specifically regarding the staffing and the programs that are available."