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)
Warning: This video contains graphic testimony. Elizabeth Laposata is a forensic pathologist who is an expert witness for Lindsay Clancy in her murder trial. Laposata testified today (Tuesday, August 18, day 15) about Clancy's injuries, which she analyzed by reviewing her medical records. She also testified about the children's strangulations and said they would have lost consciousness within five to 10 seconds. Prosecutors used her testimony in a previous trial to refute that. 01:02 "And fair to say that you have some issues that require you to speak to us today by Zoom rather than appearing in person as you intended to do. Is that correct?" "Yes, that's correct." 05:57 " I looked at her South Shore medical records when she was admitted on the evening of January 24th. I looked at her Brigham and Women's Hospital records and photographs that were taken of her and published in her hospital records." "I looked at the Department of State Police Crime laboratory toxicology report, crime scene photos of the bedroom, the outside of the house, you know, crime scene photos, approximately 500 of them, grand jury proceedings, and photographs of the exercise bands." 09:34 "The autopsy photographs. Did you have a chance to review those, doctor?" "Yes, I did." "And in your extensive experience, have you had a chance to see autopsy photographs of young children, infants, adults, people being examined prior to an autopsy, and of course during an autopsy?" "Oh yes, many, many, many." 13:09 "So you would agree that there's an injury to the left wrist, injury to the right wrist. That's a sharp, incised wound. Is that correct?" "Yes, they're they're cutting type wounds made by a sharp object such as a knife." 14:29 "Did she also sustain an injury to her neck from your review of the medical records?" "Yes." 21:31 "Can you tell us what we're looking at there?" "Yes, this is the final resting position of Lindsey's body is documenting all the materials I reviewed that are on the left-hand side. So she is lying down on hard frozen ground." 24:09 "She was in spinal shock and hypothermia, and her heart did stop." 26:24 cross-exam by Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Sprague "You were head of the Rhode Island Office of the Chief Medical Examiner when it was cited for 10 violations and unsafe conditions. Correct?" "Yes. The unsafe condition was a light bulb out in a hallway, a computer in a hallway, and a few other minor things. I was very happy to have a safety inspection." "Right, those were the unsafe conditions, but there were also 10 other violations. Correct?" "They were minimal. I don't recall now when it was 20 years ago." "You didn't treat Ms. Clancy, correct? "Correct." "And you didn't examine her yourself, correct?" "Correct." 27:42 "and you're saying that she fell with such force that she burst her C1 vertebrae and then broke other vertebrae in her back and broke ribs. Correct?" "Yes, just the force of a free falling body. Yes." "Okay. But she had no injuries to her head, correct?" "I'm sure she had bruising to her scalp under her hair." 29:04 "So hitting the frozen ground, the icy frozen ground, not a bump or scratch or scrape on her top of her head, and then within her head there was no brain bleed, there was no hemorrhaging, there was no injury into her brain itself. Nothing showed up on the CT scans, correct?" "Correct. Her brain was fine. Her skull was fine. I'm sure she probably had some scalp bruising under her hair." 29:44 "I saw the medical records, and I examined all of those. I'm sure she had some bruise on the top of her head to the backside, as I showed in my diagram number four. I'm sure there was some bruising on her scalp under her hair, but that was not a major concern at the time she was taken into the hospital." 32:18 "she fell head first to the frozen ground, and with enough force to break several vertebrae in her ribs, but did not have a skull fracture, a brain bleed, or anything else, any other type of injury to her head. Correct?" "That's absolutely correct." 33:20 "And in your report, you wrote that it would take would have taken five to 10 seconds for unconsciousness to occur. Correct?" "Yes." 39:30 re-direct by defense attorney Kevin Reddington "When you're talking about ligature strangulation as opposed to manual strangulation, tell us in your mind, what that means?" "Well, they're they're very very different." 42:51 re-cross "doctor. As you said a few moments ago, the the ligature causes unconsciousness, and then the pressure has to continuously be applied for several minutes to cause death. Correct? "Yes." 43:10 re-direct 43:56 "Did you see these exercise bands?" "Yes." "And you know they were wrapped around each child's neck and pulled to to strangle them, correct?" "Well, they were they were wrapped several times firmly enough around the neck to close off the jugular veins."