The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy came to a temporary halt on August 12, 2026, after the defendant became highly emotional while a medical examiner described the autopsy findings for one of her children. Clancy, 36, sobbed loudly, hyperventilated, and said “I can’t do this” as Dr. Barbara Olson began detailing the examination of 5-year-old Cora Clancy.

Judge William Sullivan immediately recessed the proceedings and asked the jury to leave the courtroom. Court staff and Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, attempted to calm her as she continued to cry and struggle to regain her composure. This was the second interruption of the afternoon caused by Clancy’s audible distress. She had also wept earlier during testimony from another medical examiner, Dr. Renee Stonebridge.

Once the hearing resumed, Olson told the jury that Cora died from asphyxiation. She explained that the process would have involved a period of pain lasting roughly 10 to 30 seconds before the child lost consciousness. Olson also performed the autopsy on Clancy’s 3-year-old son, Dawson, and reached the same conclusion regarding the cause of his death. Clancy remained visibly upset throughout the remainder of the testimony, resting her head on her arms at the defense table until the court adjourned for the day.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, Mᴀssachusetts, is on trial for the deaths of her three children—Cora, Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan—on January 24, 2023. After the children were killed, she cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-floor window of the family home. She survived the fall but was left paralyzed and now uses a wheelchair.

She is not disputing that she caused the children’s deaths. Her defense centers on a claim of not guilty by reason of insanity. Attorneys argue that she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and psychosis at the time, conditions they say were worsened by a large number of psychiatric medications prescribed in the months leading up to the incident. The defense has also stated that she reported hearing voices instructing her to harm her children.

Earlier on the same day, the jury heard from a counselor who met with Clancy in December 2022. The counselor described Clancy’s significant weight loss, severe sleep problems, and suicidal thoughts during that period. Clancy had contacted a crisis H๏τline twice that month but was told she did not meet criteria for inpatient treatment because she did not have a concrete plan. The counselor repeatedly recommended a higher level of care. Jurors also learned that Clancy later spent five days at McLean Hospital in early January 2023 for intrusive thoughts.

Clancy had previously broken down during testimony about the autopsy of her infant son Callan the previous week. The trial continues to focus on both the medical evidence surrounding the children’s deaths and the extensive mental-health treatment Clancy received in the months before the tragedy. Prosecutors maintain that the manner of the killings demonstrated extreme cruelty, while the defense continues to argue that her mental state at the time should lead to a finding of insanity.

Sources: https://nypost.com/2026/08/12/us-news/lindsay-clancy-erupts-into-emotion-through-sobs-as-me-testifies-about-autopsy-of-her-daughter-i-cant-do-it/