Opening statements and testimony are set to begin Monday in Lindsay Clancy trial live at Plymouth Superior Court, where the case will turn first on who jurors believe about her state of mind when her three children died. Prosecutors have filed 182 potential witnesses, while the defense has listed 65 names.
Patrick is expected to be the first witness called. He found Cora, Dawson and Callan in the basement of the family’s Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023, and the prosecution plans to play his 911 call that night.
Plymouth Superior Court witness lists
Judge William F. Sullivan denied a defense request Thursday to limit the number of first responders who may testify. He also granted prosecutors’ request to strike four doctors from the defense list, though he said he would revisit that ruling if the defense shows the doctors are needed to answer prosecution evidence during the trial.
The prosecution’s witness list is dominated by first responders, doctors and nurses. Several dozen witnesses appear on both sides’ lists, including Patrick, his parents, Lindsay Clancy’s parents and some friends and associates.
Patrick’s 911 call
Patrick’s testimony carries two roles at once. Prosecutors will use his account of finding the children and his anguished 911 call; the defense also views him as a key witness because it plans to ask about Lindsay Clancy’s efforts to get help for postpartum depression and anxiety, along with the treatment, or lack of treatment, she received.
The prosecution has said it will try to portray Clancy as a sociopath. The defense will argue she was gripped by postpartum mental illness when she strangled the three children in 2023, a dispute that puts expert testimony at the center of the case.
Doctors for both sides
The prosecution’s experts include Kirk Heilbrun, Avram Mack of Park Dietz & Associates, Gregory Saathoff and Margarita Abi Zeid Daou. The defense lists Phillip Resnick, Margaret Spinelli and Paul Zeizel, who are expected to address the mental-health questions jurors must sort through.
Resnick is known for his work in cases involving postpartum psychiatric disorders and infanticide. Spinelli is an expert on postpartum psychosis, and Zeizel is a Newton clinical and forensic psychologist. With 182 potential witnesses and overlapping lists on both sides, the early trial testimony is likely to move quickly from family accounts to the expert fight over responsibility.
