Trial testimony focuses on Lindsay Clancy's medications, fears of addiction

Jurors heard details Tuesday about weeks of mental health treatment and medication prescription during the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three children in the family's Duxbury home in 2023. Jurors heard from a psychiatric nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay Clancy in the months before the children's deaths. Rebecca Jollotta works at South Shore Hospital and said she started meeting with Lindsay Clancy in November 2022. Jollotta said the defendant feared she might be addicted to Ativan — an anti-anxiety medication — and was relying on it to sleep. During the course of a few days, Jollotta said Lindsay Clancy sent multiple messages through a chat portal about her concerns and symptoms, saying she was having intrusive thoughts. Jollotta testified that she responded that this was normal. "I said, 'It sounds more like depression than side effects. It's not uncommon for me to hear, 'I've never felt anything like this before,' or 'I just don't feel like myself.' All of this sounds like postpartum depression," she said. Clancy's defense is arguing that she was not criminally responsible because she was suffering postpartum psychosis. Jollotta testified that Clancy suffered serious depression, anxiety and sleep problems but repeatedly showed clear thinking and no signs of psychosis or mania. On Monday, Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who was first questioned by the prosecution on Friday, was cross-examined by the defense throughout Monday morning. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pressed Tufts over months of telehealth treatment, medication decisions and responses to Clancy's worsening mental health. Tufts is one of the defendants named in civil lawsuits filed in January by both Lindsay Clancy and her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy. Those cases accuse Tufts, other providers and hospitals of failing to properly diagnose and treat her mental illness. Reddington questioned Tufts' experience when she began treating Clancy, the exclusive use of telehealth, her reliance on Clancy for medical history and whether she should have sought records from other providers. Reddington also questioned Tufts about the medication prescribed during Clancy's treatment and the possible side effects. Tufts defended several decisions and rejected Reddington's suggestion that a medication change "pushed her over the edge." After the lunch break, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague revisited Tufts' training, telehealth practices and the decisions that went into assessments and prescriptions during Clancy's treatment. Video below: Intense scrutiny over a single word in Tufts' notes Background of the Clancy case: Lindsay Clancy, 36, faces three murder charges in the 2023 deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She also jumped from a second-floor window, leaving her partially paralyzed. In a civil case, Lindsay Clancy alleges a "catastrophic failure" of multiple medical providers in diagnosing and treating her psychiatric condition. Her trial began on July 20. Although her legal team offered to stipulate to the deaths of the children, she has pleaded not guilty. She is being held at Tewksbury State Hospital. The jury is made up of 12 women and six men. They will not know until the presentation of the case is concluded who will deliberate and who will be an alternate. This case involves issues of mental health. If you or someone you know needs help, you can talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988, or you can chat online here. Key moments from week 2 Christopher Clancy, father of Patrick Clancy and grandfather of the children, described the call he received from his son after the children were killed. "It was terrible," he said. Clancy cried Thursday during the testimony of Dr. Kimberley Springer, a medical examiner, who described images from the autopsy of Callan Clancy in January 2023. Former nanny Elaine Rossi, who cared for infant Callan Clancy beginning in September 2022, testified she communicated with Clancy daily through text messages and a notebook containing detailed instructions about Callan's feeding, sleep schedule and daily routine. Rossi described Clancy as a "wonderful mom" and testified she never believed the children were unsafe. She also said Clancy spoke about struggling with postpartum issues, difficulty sleeping and seeing doctors for treatment. Prosecutors read entries from the notebooks describing Clancy feeling overwhelmed by her son Callan's sleep schedule. On cross-examination, the defense highlighted other entries in which Clancy wrote about wanting to get well, brain fog, guilt, anxiety and concerns about returning to work. Clancy's attorneys have asked a Plymouth Superior Court judge to allow three defense witnesses to testify after prosecutors objected to their inclusion, arguing the testimony is central to her defense. Her motion asks the court to permit testimony from Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, Dr. Michael Vulfovich and Dr. Donald Condie. Physicians and nurses testified about Clancy's injuries when she arrived at the ICU at Brigham and Women's Hospital early in the morning on Jan. 25. One of the nurses described that Clancy, who was intubated, was able to use a whiteboard to communicate her confusion and inability to feel her legs. Judge William Sullivan paused before Friday's lunch break during the emotional trial of Lindsay Clancy to admonish everyone in the courtroom to beware of making inappropriate remarks. Jurors heard that Clancy voluntarily checked herself into McLean Hospital early on New Year's Day with suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and an inability to sleep. Dr. Alia Goodheart said she met with Clancy for an evaluation several days later and assessed that Clancy had no plan for suicide. Goodheart said Clancy expressed that her children and her family were reasons she would not commit suicide. Jurors also heard the start of the testimony from Dr. Jennifer Tufts, one of the defendants named in civil lawsuits filed in January by both Lindsay Clancy and her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy. Tufts testified that her initial diagnosis was adjustment disorder with depressed mood and generalized anxiety disorder. She said that she recommended medication to Clancy, but that Clancy was reluctant. More key takeaways from the trial are here. Key moments from week 1 The first week of testimony in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial ended after the judge, jury and attorneys visited locations connected to the case, including the Clancy family's former home in Duxbury. The jury also retraced the route prosecutors say Lindsay Clancy sent her husband, Patrick Clancy, on the day of the killings, including stops at a CVS and a restaurant in Plymouth. Jurors heard the gut-wrenching 911 call Patrick Clancy made after he found his young sons and daughter with exercise bands around their necks. He testified about returning home from a trip to pick up dinner and medication, finding blood in the bedroom and his wife out in the yard. While on the phone with a 911 operator, he asked her what happened and went inside, where he found the children in the basement. Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham used her opening statement to tell the jurors that the children were strangled "meticulously." She warned the jurors they would hear graphic testimony as she urged the group to use their common sense and life experiences as they listen to the case. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said his client knows she killed her children but questioned what was going on in Lindsay Clancy's mind. He is arguing that she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was overmedicated at the time of the alleged crimes.