Husband of woman who killed their three young children then tried to take her own life will testify in her defense at upcoming murder trial

By WILL POTTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:26, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 14:32, 14 July 2026 The husband of a Massachusetts woman who strangled their three children to death then tried to take her own life is set to testify in her defense at her upcoming murder trial.  Patrick Clancy, the husband of Lindsay Clancy, 35, will take the stand in his wife's defense when her trial begins next week, where she plans to mount an insanity defense.  Prosecutors say Clancy sent her husband out to get takeout for their family before she fatally strangled their children - Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan - with exercise bands at their home in Duxbury in January 2023.  She then cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window, which paralyzed her permanently from the waist down.  Clancy has pleaded not guilty to murder charges, with her attorneys saying they plan to raise an insanity defense at trial.  They allege that she had been prescribed 13 different drugs while she battled postpartum depression, saying the 'horrific overmedication of drugs caused homicidal ideation and suicidal ideation.'  At her pre-trial hearings this week, the judge said he would seat 18 jurors including six alternates because the trial is expected to take up to two months.  Prosecutors have submitted a long list of 168 potential witnesses for the trial, including dozens of medical experts, psychiatrists and Clancy's husband, reports the Boston Globe.  Patrick Clancy, the husband of Lindsay Clancy, 35, who strangled their three children to death then tried to take her own life, is set to testify in her defense at her upcoming murder trial Prosecutors say Clancy sent her husband out to get takeout for their family before she fatally strangled their children with exercise bands at their home in Duxbury, MA in January 2023 Patrick's decision to testify in his wife's defense comes as he has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing multiple doctors and healthcare providers of overmedicating his wife and causing her to spiral out of control.  He alleged that her doctors failed to realize his wife's rapidly deteriorating mental state while prescribing her a succession of powerful psychiatric medications in the weeks before the children were killed. In their response, defendants Dr Jennifer Tufts, nurse Rebecса Jollotta, Aster Mental Health, Inc and South Shore Health System, Inc filed a motion to dismiss the case arguing that they did not owe Patrick's decedents a 'duty of care'.' 'Specifically, the plaintiff has failed to plead sufficient facts to support the statutory requirements imposed by M.G.L. c. 123, § 36B, which governs mental health professionals' duty of care to third-parties. Instead, they rely on speculative allegations propped up by "information and a good faith basis,"' the motion reads.  The Daily Mail has reached out to the defendants' attorney for comment. Clancy later filed her own malpractice lawsuit making similar allegations, claiming she was prescribed a dangerous cocktail of medications without proper oversight and that her providers failed to diagnose an underlying bipolar disorder, instead exposing her to treatment that she says triggered a catastrophic psychotic break.  The lawsuit also claims she checked into Women & Infants Hospital for postpartum depression, where staff suspected her deteriorating mental health were caused by misdiagnosis and overmedication. The mother also checked into McLean Hospital, a psychiatric treatment facility, but discharged herself days later after stating she didn't belong there. In their response, the defendants denied the allegations and moved for the lawsuit to be stricken. Lindsay's children Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months, who were strangled to death with exercises bands by their mother Patrick, Lindsay's husband, filed a suit against her doctors. He is shown with the children, Cora, Dawson, and baby Callan The civil lawsuits mirror the central argument expected to underpin her criminal defense.  Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued Clancy was taking a concoction of 13 psychiatric medications and was suffering from severe postpartum mental illness as she battled with 'homicidal ideation and suicidal thoughts.' Prosecutors dispute that account, insisting the mother carefully orchestrated the killings by creating a window of time after sending her husband out for takeout. They also countered that Clancy was evaluated by medical professionals and was not diagnosed with postpartum depression.  At Clancy's pre-trial hearings, the judge allowed prosecutors to play her husband's anguished emergency 911 call to the court.  Patrick had gone out to pick up food at a restaurant 25 miles from their home and found his wife gravely injured outside as he returned home. While still on the phone to 911, Patrick rushed inside in a frantic search for their three young children, and found the unimaginable scene in the basement.  In the phone call, he agonizingly cried to the dispatcher: 'She killed the kids!'  Patrick's decision to testify in his wife's defense comes as he has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing multiple doctors and healthcare providers of overmedicating his wife and causing her to spiral out of control Lindsay Clancy was paralyzed from the waist down during her botched suicide attempt Prosecutors argued the recording is one of the most significant pieces of evidence in the case because Patrick can allegedly be heard desperately pulling the exercise bands from around his children’s necks. 'The fact that Mr Clancy was able to remove each band so quickly is probative of whether the defendant tied the bands around the neck of each child and walked away, or whether she manually pulled the bands around each child's neck until they died,' prosecutors stated. They concluded that the audio supports their contention that the bands had been manually tightened rather than tied or knotted, reinforcing allegations that the killings were carried out with deliberate premeditation. The judge in her case said he would allow the harrowing audio to be played for jurors, as well as autopsy photographs of the three children.  The Daily Mail has reached out to Aster Mental Health Inc and South Shore Health System for comment.