Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother on trial for the January 2023 murders of her three young children, has appeared in court throughout the proceedings using a wheelchair — the result of catastrophic injuries she sustained the same night her kids died. Clancy is now paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from a second-story window of her family’s Duxbury home, and her physical condition has quietly shaped every moment of her murder trial, from her transport to the courthouse to her first spoken words in court.
Here’s everything to know about how Clancy was injured and why she now uses a wheelchair.
Lindsay Clancy Jumped From a 2nd-Story Window
The events that left Clancy paralyzed unfolded on January 24, 2023, inside the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home. Clancy asked her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave the house to pick up dinner for the family. He returned roughly 25 minutes later to a devastating scene.
Patrick discovered that Lindsay had jumped out of a window from the second floor of their home. She survived the fall but was gravely injured. As he called 911 for help, he realized their three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — had been strangled with exercise bands tied around their necks.
Cora and Dawson were rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead soon after. Callan, the couple’s youngest, died a few days later.
Prosecutors have argued that Clancy carefully planned and plotted the killings when she sent her husband out for food. Her defense team, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, has countered that her behavior that evening was the tragic culmination of untreated and mismanaged postpartum illness — not premeditation.
Lindsay Clancy Was Left Paralyzed From the Waist Down
Clancy survived the two-story fall, but the impact caused permanent physical damage. She is now paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair to get around.
The fall left her requiring long-term medical care and mobility assistance. In the aftermath of the incident, she was hospitalized and eventually transferred to Tewksbury Hospital, a state-run public psychiatric facility in Massachusetts, where she has been held throughout the pretrial period.
Her physical condition has factored into logistical decisions surrounding the case, including her transport to and from court proceedings and her seating arrangement in the courtroom. She has appeared in a wheelchair at each hearing and throughout the trial itself, which began on July 27, 2026.
During the trial, Dr. Kelly McDonough, who treated Clancy, told jurors that scans showed the defendant had a “thoracic spine injury.” However, there was no apparent head injury.
“The decision was made by the team that her injuries were too severe to stay at South Shore Hospital, and the decision was made to transfer her to a tertiary care center,” McDonough testified, per Boston.com.
Lindsay Clancy’s Defense Cites Postpartum Psychosis and Medication
While Clancy has not denied killing her children, she has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Her defense strategy centers on an insanity plea, and Reddington has argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was overmedicated at the time of the killings.
Reddington told the court that his client had struggled with depression for a long time and voluntarily committed herself to a local psychiatric hospital less than a month before her children died, per CNN. Her doctors took her on and off medications to treat the depression, which Reddington said only worsened her symptoms.
The defense has said Clancy had been prescribed 15 medications in the months leading up to the tragedy in response to her postpartum depression. Reddington argued that jurors should hear why Clancy and Patrick “would go to consult with doctors because of depression, because of the life that she was living, which was one of horrific misery because of medications.”
Prosecutors have pushed back, signaling they may bring in their own experts to testify on whether Clancy was criminally responsible for the killings.
Lindsay Clancy Spoke in Court for the 1st Time
The physical toll of her injuries and her medical status have made Clancy a largely silent presence in court — until August 4, 2026, when she spoke publicly for the first time during her trial.
Clancy answered questions from Massachusetts Superior Court Judge William Sullivan on the sixth day of proceedings. When asked whether she could stipulate the facts, she said, “Yes, your honor,” according to a livestream by the Associated Press.
By agreeing to the stipulation, Clancy acknowledged she would not be able to contest certain facts in the case moving forward. Reddington said the stipulation involves facts related to the chain of custody of DNA evidence. The decision meant that prosecutors no longer needed to call certain witnesses to testify about the facts that Clancy agreed were true.
The brief comment marked her first public words since her trial began. While the case is expected to last several more weeks, her agreement to the stipulation may make the proceedings go faster.
Patrick Clancy Has Testified About the Children
Patrick took the stand on July 27, 2026, and appeared reserved as Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague shared photographs of the children he lost.
When asked about his kids, he said that Cora liked “princesses” and “had a lot of friends.” He added, “She just liked taking care of people.”
Patrick went on to share that Dawson liked firefighters, trucks and Paw Patrol, while Callan “was just a happy baby.”
Prosecutors have also questioned several first responders and medical professionals during the trial, walking jurors through the timeline of the night and the medical response to both the children and Lindsay’s fall.
Lindsay Clancy’s Path to Trial
Reddington first announced in December 2025 that the defense intended to pursue an insanity plea. Ahead of the trial, Clancy was scheduled to undergo a forensic psychological evaluation.
The trial had originally been set to begin in February 2026 before it was postponed to July 20, 2026. Clancy also appeared in court on April 23, 2026, for a status hearing as both sides continued to spar over what evidence and testimony would be presented to jurors.
In April 2026, Reddington filed a motion revealing that Clancy “is offering to admit that she killed the children” if the judge agreed to a bifurcated trial format, according to WCVB. A bifurcated trial is a two-stage legal proceeding in which liability and damages are heard separately.
Judge Sullivan ultimately denied the bifurcated trial request, ruling the matter could be handled in a single trial.
What’s Next for Lindsay Clancy?
Prosecutors continue to maintain that Clancy carefully staged the moments before the killings, sending Patrick out of the house so she would be alone with the children. The defense counters that her actions were the tragic result of untreated postpartum illness.
If Clancy is found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would likely be committed to a psychiatric facility rather than sentenced to prison. A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Regardless of the verdict, her paralysis and use of a wheelchair are expected to remain permanent — a lasting physical consequence of the night that left her three children dead.
If you or someone you know is pregnant or just had a baby and is in crisis, help is available. Call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline for free, confidential support 24/7 in English and Spanish at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
