NEW DETAILS: Lindsay Clancy breaks down with “I can’t do this” as Patrick watches her with a cold stare
FROM an anguished “I can’t do this” breakdown to an icy courtroom non-look with her ex-husband, Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial has been packed with raw moments.
The 36-year-old has spent nearly four weeks listening as jurors hear in painstaking detail how her children died and what was happening inside her mind in the months before she killed them.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington listens to graphic testimony as client Lindsay Clancy sobs during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts on August 12Credit: Reuters
Lawyer Kevin Reddington, right, sits beside his client Lindsay Clancy during proceedings in her murder trial on Thursday, August 20Credit: AP
At Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts, Clancy has at times sat almost motionless, while at other times sobbing, shaking her head or burying her face in her hands.
Here are five of the most gut-wrenching moments of the blockbuster trial.
‘I can’t do this’
Perhaps Clancy’s most dramatic breakdown came as medical examiners described the injuries suffered by Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan.
She began crying and shaking as Dr Renee Stonebridge testified, becoming even more distressed when Dr Barbara Olson discussed Cora’s autopsy.
Clancy gripped attorney Kevin Reddington’s hand and sobbed as the testimony continued.
“I can’t do this,” she finally cried out.
Judge William Sullivan immediately halted proceedings and called a recess as nurses and Reddington tried to comfort her.
It was not the first time the evidence had reduced Clancy to tears.
She had earlier buried her face in her hands and wept as jurors heard Patrick’s frantic 911 call from the night he discovered their children.
Several jurors and Clancy’s parents also became visibly emotional, and the judge paused proceedings.
Shaking her head at prosecutor
Clancy showed a very different reaction this week when prosecutors questioned psychologist Dr. Paul Zeizel about her behavior inside Tewksbury State Hospital.
Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham went through records showing Clancy participating in activities and seeing relatives around significant dates linked to her children.
Lindsay strangled her three kids Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old CallanCredit: Reuters
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Patrick Clancy, the father of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy testifies for the prosecution against his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy on July 27, 2026Credit: Reuters
The questioning appeared aimed at examining how Clancy behaved on birthdays and anniversaries after the killings.
As Buckingham read from the records, Clancy could be seen repeatedly shaking her head at the defense table.
At one point she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and continued shaking her head before writing something down for Reddington.
Zeizel pushed back against any suggestion that the records meant Clancy was doing well, telling jurors she has “bad days and worse days.”
Icy non-look with Patrick
Another heavily watched moment came when Patrick entered the courtroom to testify, reportedly the first time Lindsay had seen him since the night their children died.
She appeared to take a deep breath and purse her lips as her former husband walked in.
Body language expert Traci Brown previously told The U.S. Sun that Lindsay appeared to show “fear and sadness” as she reacted to seeing him.
But perhaps more striking was what happened after Patrick finished giving evidence.
Patrick kept his head down as he quickly walked from the courtroom, while Lindsay’s gaze remained fixed toward the table instead of following him.
The pair did not appear to look at one another.
“I think they’re both trying to keep that separation between them there,” Brown told The U.S. Sun.
Patrick had just spent hours describing the collapse of their family, Lindsay’s mental health struggles and the horrifying moment he discovered all three children in the basement.
Patrick’s cross-examination also triggered one of the trial’s biggest online talking points when Reddington questioned him about a work email sent at 5:24 pm on the night of the killings.
Asked whether it had been sent from his Microsoft Surface Pro, Patrick said he did not know.
“It could have been sent from my iPhone,” he testified.
The exchange fueled conspiracy theories online because Patrick had testified he left the house at around 5:15 pm, although no evidence presented in court has established any wrongdoing or inconsistency involving the email.
911 call breakdown
Clancy’s composure had already collapsed days earlier when jurors heard Patrick’s frantic 911 call from January 24, 2023.
The six-minute recording captured Patrick discovering his badly injured wife outside before rushing through the house searching for the children.
“She killed the kids!” he screamed after reaching the basement.
Patrick had already left the courtroom by the time the recording was played.
Clancy sat hunched over the defense table with her face buried in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably as she heard the call.
Sullivan called a recess and she was wheeled from the courtroom still crying loudly.
Court remained paused for roughly half an hour afterward.
Head down as family relived final months
Some of the trial’s hardest moments have come as people closest to Clancy described the woman they knew before the killings.
Her mother Paula Musgrove and sister Allison Ozga both took the stand for the defense to recount the dramatic deterioration in her mental health during late 2022.
Ozga said her sister had become depressed, suffered worsening insomnia and disclosed having suicidal thoughts.
She recalled getting a “gut feeling that something was off” and directly asking Clancy whether she was safe.
Musgrove later read aloud desperate messages her daughter had sent months before the deaths.
“I’m really sick. Something is wrong,” Clancy had written to her mom in October 2022.
“I had horrible insomnia all night and I just don’t know how I’m going to get through the day.”
Throughout the emotionally charged testimony in the trial, Clancy has repeatedly lowered her head and withdrawn from what was unfolding around her.
She also sat with her head down as the family’s former nanny Elaine Rossi described Cora as loving arts and crafts, Dawson as funny and energetic, and Callan as a happy baby.
The emotional displays have unfolded alongside a fierce legal fight over what was happening in Clancy’s mind when the children died.
On Friday, defense forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick testified that Clancy was “psychotic” during the killings and believed she was protecting her children by killing them.
He said she was under the influence of a “command hallucination” and believed the children would suffer if she died without them.
“She believed she was morally right,” Resnick testified.
The defense rested its case following his testimony.
Prosecutors have begun presenting rebuttal evidence, with psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack disputing the defense’s bipolar diagnosis and telling jurors he found no evidence of mania or psychosis in his review.
Closing arguments are expected as early as Monday or Tuesday before the case finally goes to the jury.
