A courtroom spectator has triggered a wave of online reaction after arriving at the Lindsay Clancy trial with her pet dog.
Clancy, 36, has been standing trial in Plymouth Superior Court since July 20, where prosecutors are seeking to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she meant to kill her three children — Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan — on January 24, 2023.
The woman, who has not been identified, was seen seated near the back of the courtroom wearing a red shawl, her dark hair tied back in a ponytail, with her emotional support pug, Chorizo, beside her.
Chorizo, wearing a blue harness, was leashed to its owner and appeared to remain calm and quiet at her feet during the proceedings.
The unexpected presence of the dog quickly became a talking point on social media, where commenters described the scene as “wild.”
“Some lady brought her dog with her into the courtroom for the Lindsay Clancy trial. Wild,” one user posted on X.
Others criticized the decision to bring the animal inside, with one commenter writing, “That seems unnecessary,” while some directed their frustration at the judge for permitting the dog in the courtroom.
“What kind of judge would allow this? Let me guess, coward judge worried about a lawsuit for not allowing a service dog,” another user wrote.
A spectator who brought her pet dog to the Lindsay Clancy trial has sparked social media uproar
The unidentified woman wore a red shawl, her dark hair pulled into a ponytail, as she sat in the back of the courtroom with her emotional support pug, Chorizo
The jurors in Clancy’s trial have been sent out to consider their verdict on whether the Massachusetts mom is guilty of murdering her three children.
The former nurse has admitted to strangling her children that fateful day, but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing psychosis caused by a cocktail of drugs she had been prescribed to treat postpartum depression.
Now, a panel of 12 jurors will deliberate in a private room on whether they find Clancy guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter.
The jury is made up of nine women and three men. The foreperson is a woman. They have not been sequestered for deliberations.
Judge William Sullivan put manslaughter on the table during a charging conference on Wednesday. It is a lesser conviction than murder, which carries a life sentence. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is 20 years.
If they cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the case will end in a mistrial. The form of manslaughter has not been specified. Her defense had previously sought an involuntary manslaughter charge.
If Clancy is found guilty of murder, she will be sentenced to life in prison. If she is found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she will be committed to a state mental health facility.
During closing arguments on Thursday, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, accused the state of ‘manipulation.’
‘Watch the manipulation,’ he said as he pointed out the holes in the investigation, with him and Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, finding bottles of pills in the bedside drawer. They were not found during the police search.
He also slammed the prosecution for claiming that his client faked a suicide attempt, adding the prosecution described her suicide attempt as ‘dinky little cuts,’ and ‘sliding down the house.’
‘Lindsay screwed up and she hurt herself bad? You know that’s not what happened,’ Reddington said. ‘She made a very significant suicide attempt.’
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Chorizo was seen in a blue harness, leashed to his owner and sitting quietly by her feet
The jury has been sent out to deliberate in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial. She has admitted to killing her children, but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis. (Pictured: Clancy in court on Thursday)
Cora, five, Dawson, two, and 11-month-old Callan were found strangled to death by exercise bands in the basement of the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, on January 24, 2023
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington (left), and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague (right) each delivered their closing arguments before the jury was sent out to deliberate
In the end, he pushed back on the state’s theory that Clancy wanted out of the life she had.
‘The mess that this young lady was in in her brain,’ he said. ‘That’s the evidence. That’s the evidence we have in this case. ‘There’s no evidence she was lying,’ Reddington said.
‘This young lady is not guilty of the killing of her young children because she was suffering from a disease and defect,’ he concluded.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague then delivered her closing argument.
She started off by saying: ‘There’s no dispute that she suffered mental illness and she tried to kill herself,’ Sprague said. She called the focus on postpartum mental health a ‘distraction.’
The prosecution again emphasized that they believe Clancy was in her right mind when she killed her children, and pointed to the discussion she had with her husband and mom that she had thought of harming her kids in December – a month before.
‘But she did not tell a single medical provider because she feared her children would be taken away, Sprague said. ‘That is a rational thought.’
Sprague went on to graphically detail what the children went through while they were being strangled to death. She also insisted that the bands were not tied. ‘You know they weren’t knotted. Patrick never testified they were knotted.’
‘You know to a moral certainty she is guilty,’ Sprague said as she walked back to her seat.
Over the course of about five weeks, prosecutors and the defense have brought in a series of witnesses to take the stand for a hearing that has been dubbed America’s saddest murder trial.
