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.
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The judge in Lindsay Clancy's trial is allowing prosecutors to access her jail visitor log regarding her contacts with Dr. Paul Zeizel, a Massachusetts psychologist hired by her lawyers who met with her while she was still hospitalized shortly after killing her children and attempting suicide in 2023. Prosecutors wanted to access information for all visitors, including a priest. Plymouth County Superior Court Judge William F. Sullivan heard argument today (Thursday, August 13, day 13) after the jury left. Shanan Buckingham, an assistant district attorney in Plymouth County, said the defense will present Zeizel "as an expert witness on the concept of criminal responsibility, and there are certain ethical rules that forensic psychiatrists and psychologists follow that he might be subject to cross-examination about, and this and the nature of his relationship with the defendant could be an area fraught for cross-examination." The judge said he understands the relevancy of Zeizel’s visitations with Clancy but "the priest I'm struggling with." Clancy's lawyer Kevin Reddington said he has "no problem" with prosecutors obtaining the records. "Father Bob is a Roman Catholic priest who baptized these kids, who is very, very close to Lindsay. Not in a religious sense; they just like each other. She went to Mass sporadically. She's not a devout Catholic. She's a Catholic. She has a relationship with the Father at that church, and that guy has been with her for three years," Reddington said. Reddington said he hasn't "even talked to the guy since last week. First time I ever met him. Shook his hand. Nice, nice man. After that debacle yesterday that we went through with the with the public —" Judge Sullivan interjected, "Let's stay focused on." "I am staying focused," Reddington said. Sullivan sighed. "I guess I'll tell you right now, so I can save you: I'm not ordering the name or address of anyone other than Dr. Zeizel," Sullivan said. "Can I call him as a witness right now?" Reddington said. "No," Sullivan said. He said prosecutors can have visitation information for Zeizel "and that's it." "Especially I'm not ordering he name, address or frequency of of this Roman Catholic priest. I'm just not going to do it based on the record that I have now. If for some reason he's called as a witness, which I haven't seen that, I haven't seen any expectation even regards that, if that comes up, then the Commonwealth can renew this, and I may reevaluate. But right now, the Commonwealth's motion regarding security logs is allowed as to Dr. Paul Zeizel only," Judge Sullivan said. Prosecutors are seeking three murder convictions against Clancy for the Jan. 24, 2023, strangulation deaths of her three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. Her defense is that she's not guilty because she was in a psychosis related to postpartum problems and didn't know what she was doing.