Paralyzed mother's face is picture of anguish as she prepares to stand trial for killing three young children in America's saddest murder trial

By RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and RACHEL SHARP, CRIME CORRESPONDENT Published: 20:25, 20 July 2026 | Updated: 01:18, 21 July 2026 Jury selection has begun in the trial of a Massachusetts mother who strangled her three children then tried to kill herself in a crime that shocked the nation. Lindsay Clancy, 35, is accused of ruthlessly murdering her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – back in January 2023. Although Clancy does not deny killing her children, she has pleaded not guilty and claimed she is not responsible for her actions because she was suffering postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors are planning to argue the killings were intentional and well planned, not the work of someone who had lost control.   On the day of the killings, Clancy asked her husband Patrick Clancy to leave their home to get takeout food and to pick up something at a pharmacy.  Clancy strangled the children with exercise bands, then used multiple methods to try to end her own life. She was paralyzed after falling from the home's second-story window, and is being held at a state hospital.   Clancy was brought into court in a wheelchair for the first day of her high-profile murder trial on Monday. Lindsay Clancy, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her three children, and her lawyers plan to make an insanity defense Clancy is accused of ruthlessly killing her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan - back in January 2023 Dressed in a baby blue long-sleeved top and black pants, the former nurse kept her face and gaze down to the floor as she was wheeled to her place at the defense table. Her long dark hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders, while her hands rested in her lap. The mom-of-three did not appear to make eye contact with her parents, Mike and Paula Musgrove, who sat in the public gallery in a show of support for their daughter. Throughout the day’s proceedings, Clancy wore a pained, saddened expression on her face - her brows furrowed. Before jury selection got underway, Judge William Sullivan granted the prosecution an early win by excluding four defense witnesses that were added to the list on July 7. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague argued that the defense made a 'strategic and intentional act' to surprise prosecutors by adding the witnesses at the last minute. 'Providing these names at the last minute, a week and a half before trial, was a strategic and intentional act to surprise us with these witnesses and not allow us to be prepared for them,' Sprague said. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington claimed that the prosecution has plenty of staff members working on the case, and he is not sure which witnesses he will call because it depends on how the state makes its case during the trial.  Before jury selection got underway, the prosecution and the defense sparred over witnesses Prosecutors are planning to argue the killings were intentional and well planned because on the day of the killings, Clancy asked her husband Patrick to get takeout food and to pick up something at a pharmacy The mom-of-three did not appear to make eye contact with her parents, Mike and Paula Musgrove, who sat in the public gallery in a show of support for their daughter on Monday Should mental illness ever excuse parents from responsibility for crimes against their children? What's your view?'They don’t need weeks to prepare for cross-examination. That’s ludicrous to suggest that,' Reddington said.   The judge agreed with the prosecutors for now and allowed the witnesses to be banned, but said that the defense could bring the issue back up after the state's opening, depending on what they say in it. While Clancy's current condition remains unclear, she appeared lucid and able to participate during the jury selection process. She listened and watched each prospective juror attentively during questioning, read the paperwork containing their questionnaire responses and occasionally chatted to her attorney. Eighteen jurors, including six alternates, are expected to be chosen over several days for the trial in Plymouth, which is near the family's home in Duxbury, an upscale coastal suburb about 30 miles south of Boston.  By lunchtime recess, 25 potential jurors had been excused and only two - one man, one woman - had been seated.  The judge said at a hearing last week he expects the trial to last six to eight weeks. Clancy's husband is expected to testify in her defense after he filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing multiple doctors and healthcare providers of overmedicating his wife and causing her to spiral out of control.