Court video: Defense in Lindsay Clancy murder trial delivers opening statements

Your Honor, I might use the easel, may I please turn off the TV screen so that the jurors are able to see me? Yes. You know, normally, we thank jurors for the time away from your life, jobs, your family, coming to court, listening to a trial, certainly is a service that's provided by you as citizens, but in this case, God bless you, you people are going to have to listen to some of the most horrific things. Look at some of the most horrific things. In jurors, it's a beautiful system. You pass between, as you heard Don Clark say, you probably don't remember it, but it's all language. It goes back to old England. It says that you as jurors pass between the government and she places herself on her country, which country you are. You owe allegiance to nothing but your oath, your consideration, and your time, your common sense. You bring your life experience to this trial. You render it right. And as jurors, take the job very, very, very seriously. You people will never forget this case. And thank you for that service. The government says that this is a situation, it's not a referendum on women having babies and having postpartum psychosis, postpartum depression, but it sure as hell is. Because you're going to hear, consistent with what His Honor told you in the instructions, consistent with the obligation that the government has, when they brought this charge, they brought this charge. Tim Cruz, the DA, right in the front row brought this charge. He knew, as did his office, the facts of this case. And he knew, when he brought this charge, that it was going to kill the soul of this young woman. And they would bring their evidence in front of a jury that she knows that she killed these children. We'll sit here and listen to their evidence, but I suggest to you that the issue of consideration is what was going on in that woman's mind. You're going to hear evidence that, as the government said, Lindsay was kind of a parapleiser. She was a person that, in school, had a lot of friends, still has friends. You'll hear evidence to this day from the sixth grade, high school, college, wrestling school. You're going to hear evidence that Lindsay, in the course of being in high school, she was a high achiever of gymnastics. Stopped doing gymnastics because she hurt herself and didn't like to do the backflips and stopped doing gymnastics because she was very athletic. You're going to hear evidence that, right after she had the birth of the last child, within four or five days, she ran a 5K. She was very, very, very physically fit. Her life was such that she watched what she ate, watched what she did in her life as far as activities, and was one heck of a mother. She loved her children. All the things that the VA said to you about those little kids and their life and what they liked, she knows a thousand times more than them in that capacity. As a mother, daily, you'll see evidence that she would decorate rooms, that she and Patrick did have that achievement of a wonderful life. They had it all. They met in Boston. She was a young nurse out of school. He was working in his industry. They ended up falling in love. They got married. Bought a nice house. People say, oh, they're living in this mansion. No, they're living in a very, very humble house in Duxbury that they had to struggle to pay for. That house, you will see, not from the view, because it's not enough that we have photographs. On top of the photographs, we have to do the video. And on top of the photographs and the video, we have to have an auto-computerized animated display. And on top of the photographs, the video, the automated animated display, we have to get on a bus and go take a ride and look at the house where some guy and his wife are living. And it doesn't look at all like what it looked like when Lindsay and Patrick were living there with their three kids. But there are videos that show what that home looked like that day, prior to that. You'll see in every room, there are things hanging on the walls, alphabets, colors, numbers, pictures of different cartoon characters. And I'm too old to even remember what they are. Movies. All sorts of toys. Erector sets. Trucks. All over the living room. There was no dining room. It was a large thing for the baby to be in and then surrounded by toys. Every single room had toys in it. These children were loved and nurtured and cared for by her. She didn't want to get rid of her kids because of her selfish life, as the government indicates. She loved those children right up to the time of their death. You're going to see that there's photographs in this case that you will be able to evaluate and show that. Some of them might even be in the videos that the state police took. This case is a massive production by the district attorney's office. You have the district attorneys, the assistant district attorneys, the assistants to the assistant district attorneys. You have the state police crime laboratory. You have the detectives. You have the state police, the armed men that will go out and interview witnesses and will investigate this case. You have the victim witness advocate, very nice lady by the way, that deals with witnesses and people in a case such as this. It's a massive operation. And that's great. We should have that. But when you're considering the evidence, you consider the fact that we have two young people that were living this life, that were working, and Patrick, not because of COVID, not because of he just didn't want to work in an office anymore. He worked out of his basement. He worked in an office in the basement. He was there because of what Lindsay was going through. He was there. He lived it. And he will testify to it. He doesn't have to testify, quite frankly, and identify clothing and be placed in a position of horror in this courtroom. But he will testify to what they went through as a husband and a wife, the wife being pregnant. They had three kids. After the second child, she had postpartum. You're going to hear evidence that that's one of the issues that is important because that could lead to bipolar. One of the things that you don't do, which is taboo, is if you have somebody that's bipolar, you don't put them on an antidepressant. You don't put them on Zoloft. You don't put them on what's called an SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It messes with your brain. You don't do that, but it was done in this case. The reason that Lindsay went to the doctors was in September of 2022. July and August of 2022. They were very happy. Lovely little family. September, things went sideways. She looked forward. And you heard the government saying, and remember what they say. And remember that when they prepare a case. And remember how they can point to different aspects of the case to show guilt. To show that somebody's conniving. In this case, how many times you heard she faked the suicide. Faked the suicide. Little cuts. Dinky little cuts. Scratches you'll get. Stated in the opening statement at the time of the arraignment that she asked for a lawyer. That's rich. You're going to hear evidence that she was in her bedroom after the horrific act in the basement. And that she was up in the bedroom. That she stood in front of a full length mirror. That she took the knife. The knife that was in the kitchen. That she had taken. When she took the knife. She cut her throat in front of the mirror. This is no fake suicide. This is her when she was brought to the hospital. When she was in the hospital. That's what her appearance was at the South Shore Hospital. When she's at the South Shore Hospital, she had wonderful care and treatment that was able against her will to save her life. Fake suicide. Little scratches. Dinky little scratches. This is a photograph that was taken at the South Shore Hospital of her neck. Photograph taken of her wrist. Showing the split in the skin. Photograph showing, you'll see evidence of this. The bedroom. Floor. Next to the bed. With the blood. The knife. Next to the cup. Sadly. A gift saying because kids. You see the white residue inside the cup. That's where the pills were crushed up. With leftover lemonade from the night before when she consumed that. That's the knife. This here you'll see is sleep aids. See this here? Deep sleep pillow spray. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't sleep for months. More photographs of the injuries to her neck. And then in the course of the fake suicide. Speculation by the police. You'll see the evidence that she hung on the window ledge. And like Spiderman, I guess, slid down the wall of the house. You're going to hear evidence that she flung and threw herself out the window. Striking her head on the ground. Full ground. Causing what's known as a Jefferson fracture of her neck. She shattered. Exploded. Her thoracic spine. Shattered. Her cervical spine. First disc. Broke every rib. In the Jefferson fracture, you'll hear evidence. Is not consistent with a fake suicide by any means. Jefferson fracture is consistent with Superman when he got thrown off the horse. It's consistent with people that have the tragedy. Tragedy where they dive into a swimming pool. As a result of which they get that fracture in their neck and they're paralyzed. She's paralyzed. She's not going to get up miraculously and walk out of this courtroom. Paralyzed and will be paralyzed for the rest of her life. She's living her own hell. She knows what happened with those kids. And she wanted to die. When she was in the hospital, you're going to see evidence. Brigham and Women's Hospital. When they transferred her from South Shore Hospital. Air flight into Brigham and Women's Hospital. And she was then given the emergency room. The emergency treatment at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. You couldn't move in that room. There was so much equipment. So many wires. So many breathing tools. So many machines. Coming, banging, clicking. And she's spread out like she's crucified on the bed while she's being treated in that room. Surrounded by armed police officers. Out in the hallway. Guiding the hallway against what anyone can guess. Guiding the hallway. Guiding the room. Guiding the bed. Standing there. She's handcuffed to the bed. She goes to South Shore Hospital. Government speculates that. Again, you see how the government is able to create what they want for facts. That she is so cold and calculating. That she said, she heard voices. After I brought a psychologist, Dr. Zeisel, into that room to see her. I had to move her in the north. You'll hear evidence that they wouldn't even let her have visitors. She couldn't even see her family for over a week. The cops wouldn't let anybody near her. That room was an armed camp. I had to move her in the north and practically get a court order to be able to get in there and see her. While she's laying in the bed. And they suggest, and will suggest, that she said, I heard voices. I heard command hallucinations telling me to kill the kids and then kill myself. After she talked to Paul Zeisel as if he was telling her what to say. Because I'm the lawyer and I brought him into that hospital. You're going to hear evidence that Paul Zeisel is one of the most respected psychologists. You're going to hear evidence that he was embedded with the military in Afghanistan for years. You're going to hear evidence that he works for the government when there's a shooting involving the FBI, CIA, or any of those alphabet soup cops. He's involved in interviewing these people for post-traumatic stress. I knew that he was the man to talk to this young woman in the hospital. When I finally was able to get into that room, into that hospital, he was with me. He did not tell her command voices. He, as a human being, gave her a cell phone so she could call Patrick. But you know what? You're going to hear evidence from the woman who works at Brigham and Women's Hospital. You saw Lindsey as soon as she came out of the coma. She is a woman that works with the religious services in that hospital. And the first thing that Lindsey wanted to know is where's my family. And then she told her about what happened and told her about the command voices. And this is well before she ever met me or Paul Zeisel. So you have to keep focused on the evidence because it's so easy to manipulate. There's no fake suicide. There was no plan to fake her sickness. This is a young woman that, with her husband, tried very hard to get the help she needed. She went and saw a doctor by the name of... Oh, by the way, remember in the opening, the government says she shopped around for doctors, I guess. She wanted to get doctors to, I don't know, give her drugs or something. You can hear evidence that she went online and she looked for someone that was into neonatal post-baby delivery because she knew that she was in trouble. She couldn't sleep. She had insomnia. It wasn't just, you know, when you get up in the middle of the night because your phone's on. She couldn't sleep. She could only get two hours a night, three hours a night if she's lucky. As time went on. In September, she went to see Dr. Tupps. Jennifer Tupps is the name of the doctor. Jennifer Tupps then gave her a prescription, Zoloft, which is an antidepressant. It's one of those SSRIs. She didn't take the Zoloft for a couple of weeks because she was breastfeeding. She was afraid to have the baby, have anything to do with drugs, but ultimately couldn't do it any longer. Took the Zoloft and was spun out of control. Oh, because you didn't hear evidence because she was bipolar. You don't give a bipolar person Zoloft, but she got it. You're going to see what the effect was that it had on her as that week went on, as that month drove on, and she couldn't sleep, and she was unable to emote. Had no emotions. Had no feelings. Was unable to really react to anything, but had to take care of the kids. And as the government says, well, she was able to talk to people. She was able to talk to neighbors. Sure, you're going to do it because they don't follow and we're going to follow. People that knew Lindsay as a mother, people that knew Lindsay, teachers of those kids, will indicate what kind of a mother she was, as will neighbors, as will friends, as will people that saw her during that period of time. You're going to hear evidence from Patrick as to the effect that this sickness had on her. She was looking into it. You're going to see her Google searches. You're going to see her Google searches go on and on and on about how to take care of postpartum. What type of drugs? Can you become addicted to benzodiazepines? What about is it possible to have a treatment, a ketamine treatment? What do I do as far as insomnia? What do I do about my thoughts to kill myself? Ways to kill. How do you kill? What do you do to kill? The government lashes onto that. Oh, my God. She's looking up ways to kill. Let's make that a basis of our prosecution on this case. This is not a righteous prosecution. They're looking for every single piece of evidence that they can to show some ridiculous concept that she wanted to kill her beautiful kids because she didn't want to be a mother anymore. This is a woman that was a nurse. She worked for one of the best hospitals in the country. She was in labor delivery. You're going to hear from labor and delivery nurses that will tell you how dedicated she was. Cora was named after the very, very first baby that she delivered as a nurse in the hospital. That's where the name Cora came from. Cora was named after her first delivery. This is a woman who did nothing in her life but dedicate her life to helping people and be a good person and a good nurse and a great mother. And as time went on, looking like anyone else would, please help me. That's what it's all about. Give me help. The government will say, she was able to talk to people. She wasn't drooling. She wasn't putting tinfoil inside of a hat when she was going to the schools. No, she was able to talk to people. We actually have, we meaning the government, we have video of her and Patrick and the kids at the Museum of Science, and they were actually having a good time. We also have video that shows them down at Cape Carter, down at Cape with the kids and they're in bathing suits. I guess she was fine. She put on a pretty good face. So what does she do? She goes to see September 12th of 22. If you look for a psychiatrist, that's when she hooks up, if you will, with Dr. Jennifer Tutts, early October 22, initial appointment, October 20th of 22, reports the adverse reaction that she was having to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or November 16th, she goes to the South Shore Hospital emergency room because she was so depressed and so maxed out from lack of sleep and so unable to emote. She couldn't laugh. She couldn't cry. She couldn't have any feelings. She was a robot. She went to South Shore Hospital. She was referred and engaged with South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health. This was Patrick's mother. This is Patrick's mother, Mrs. Francie, who's a nurse, well-respected nurse, wonderful woman. She works at the South Shore Hospital, labor and delivery as well. She knows Lindsay, and she told Lindsay, you've got to go to this outfit here, which was the South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health. She didn't look them up because she wanted to get drugs. She was referred by her mother-in-law, who's a nurse. She went to see these people, November 21st of 22, and she was engaged at the South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health. She's going on one drug to the next to the next. The drugs that she was prescribed, you see here and you'll hear evidence, that first off, Jennifer Tufts, September 15th, 22. Sertraline, that's the Zoloft. Then lorazepam, October 21st, Jennifer Tufts. Then hydroxazine, Jennifer Tufts. Lorapazam, Jennifer Tufts. Buspirone, Jennifer Tufts. Lorazepam increased, Jennifer Tufts. Buspirone increased from one milligram to five milligrams, Jennifer Tufts. Trazodone from another individual. Fluoxetine, 10 milligrams from another person named Julie Paul. Julie Paul worked at the South Shore Hospital when she went there to go try to get some help from South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health. More medications. Spiraling, continuing on, down. Kat lived this and he will testify to what they went through. At this point, at the end of November, around Thanksgiving, she's reporting disassociation and confusion. They put her on Remeron. This is around Thanksgiving. Things were so bad at this point that her mother and father came up from Connecticut and lived with them to take care of the kids to help because she was walking around absolutely a zombie. She would rock on the sofa, crying hysterically, banging her head into the pillow of the sofa. Patrick will tell you what he observed with her. She dealt with her parents. Her parents were there to try to help. Is this someone that's faking because she doesn't want to be a mother anymore? The parents were there. Mother and father, wonderful people. Mother's retired. Dad took pictures of high school kids for yearbooks. They did what they could. Coming into December, after Thanksgiving, and they went, by the way, during the holidays, down to Connecticut at one point to visit with the family. But December 4th, she calls a suicide hotline seeking help. December 5th, she's evaluated by what's known as the Aspire Crisis Team. You'll hear evidence about that. December 6th, the next day, they have an appointment with Nurse Gelato. Now, Nurse Gelato comes into this action because, again, not looking for more doctors. Paul retired or left or went to another job. So all of a sudden, Nurse Paul, who was treating her and prescribing meds, leaves. Here's Nurse Gelato. She's now going to be your person you deal with. That's all. She wasn't looking for some other doctors to get additional medication. She now is dealing with Gelato. They have an appointment with Nurse Gelato. And Pat goes with her because he was so upset and says to Gelato, you'll hear evidence, do you think possibly that she's over-medicated? Do you think somebody screwed up and she says it's possible? And then she puts her on more medication. She puts her on, okay, December of 2022, you're going to see that Nurse Gelato, who is now on this chart, is in blue. Nurse Gelato puts her on quetiapine, 25 milligrams, November 30th, December 6th, diazepam, 5, December 7th, diazepam, December 7th, quetiapine, December 9th, diazepam, 5, December 13th, diazepam. And then she goes back to Jennifer Tufts because they just couldn't handle dealing with Rebecca Gelato because she wanted to wean off the drugs. Gelato told her to stay the course. She ends up going through December 19th, 21st, 22nd, dealing with quetiapine, 300 milligrams of quetiapine. Now, what happens is they then suggest that what she has to do is go to Mass General Hospital. She goes to Mass General Hospital. At Mass General, they say, well, you can go on your day program or you can go to this fantastic program down in Rhode Island called Women and Infants Program. So she goes to Women and Infants Program. She goes down for a day. She sits there in a group with other mothers and they talk. And they look at her medication and they say, we're going to see you to the medical records. We can't really help you as postpartum, and that's what they specialize in, because you've got medications that you're going to have to clear because the medications can be affecting you. She was there for a day, one day. They never said anything. You're not suffering from postpartum. Postpartum, every one of these doctors and nurses knew that she was suffering from postpartum. Now it's turning into psychosis. Now as she goes through the period of time, in January 5, Aaliyah Goodhart from McLean Hospital puts on Trazodone, 50 milligrams, Lorazepam, 1 milligram, leaving the hospital. She goes to that hospital on New Year's Eve. She and Patrick decide this is it. The two of them get in their car. Family takes care of the kids. She goes to the hospital. Now it's locked wards. She goes into the hospital. She's there for five days, four days. During that period of time that she's there, she's in group. Didn't see a doctor but once. There's no discussion of medications until the very end. You'll see the medical records. We'll look at the medical records. You'll see that her daughter's birthday was coming up and she wanted to leave rather than the 5th and the 4th. This is not a discharge against medical advice. They cleared her. They said, yeah, fine. You're okay. Good luck. Go home. She went home and she went to the birthday party. The government will have witnesses apparently to show that she was able to socialize like, hi, how are you, at the trampoline where they had the birthday party for Carmen. She's still living her nightmare. During this period of time, January 9th, back to Jennifer Topps, puts her on diazepam. Jennifer Topps kicks up the trazodone to 150 milligrams. January 13th, we've got Rebecca Gilada, puts her on diazepam. And by the way, when she was down at Rhode Island in the nurse and baby's hospital, not a hospital, it was like a service, the people that were treating her for that one day reached out to Gilada to find out what's up with the medication. Gilada never called them back. You're going to hear evidence, and it's in the medical records, that when she and Patrick called Gilada to say, I've got to wean off this. She didn't want more drugs. She wanted off the drugs. Gilada says, stay the course. She's going on vacation. I'll see you in a week. Comes back in a week. You're going to see that now Jennifer Topps puts her on diazepam, two milligrams, on January 16th. Amitriptyline, 10 milligrams, January 16th. Diazepam and diazepam between Topps and Gilada. The last script is diazepam, two milligrams, January 23rd. During that period of time, you can see that on December 20th and 22nd, she was evaluated at the Women's and Infants Partial Hospitalization Program in Rhode Island. December 30th, she returned to Mass General Hospital Emergency Room. December 31st, that's after Mass General told her to go to the hospital, you can go to McLean. New Year's Eve, December 20th and 22nd, they were admitted to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. January 6th and 23rd was post-discharge follow-up appointment with Dr. Topps. January 10th, 16th, and 23rd, appointment with Dr. Topps, Dr. Topps. These are the medications that she was on, that she had filled, that she took, that she didn't take. And apparently, according to the opening statement by the government, was manipulating the doctors, not telling the doctors. She told them that she was suicidal. She told them that she had suicidal ideation. And in December, to his and her ever-dying regret, told Patrick, in the presence of her mother, that she was having psychosis thoughts of hurting the children. This is a woman that did not get medication, did not get the medical treatment that she so deserved. This is a woman that was suffering from psychosis at the time that she went down to that basement. She had no motive. She loved her children. She intended to kill herself. She didn't fake that. Threw herself out the window. Most of the hospital, you're going to see that when she's in the hospital, they said to her, what do you call it, a DNR, do not resuscitate. Absolutely did not want any DNR. Didn't want to be resuscitated, wanted to die. To this day, wants to die. That's what we're dealing with on this prosecution. So you're going to hear from witnesses. It's going to be emotional. And thank you for your service. All right, members of the jury, we're going to take the morning recess.