BROCKTON, Mass. — The Lindsay Clancy case returned to court Wednesday, but the Duxbury mother accused of killing her kids before attempting to take her own life wasn’t present for the hearing.
Clancy, 33, was arraigned in October at Tewksbury Hospital on three counts of murder and strangulation in the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, her 3-year-old son, Dawson, and her 8-month-old baby, Callan. A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf.
A judge at the time ordered Clancy to remain held at the hospital, saying that she was at a “serious risk of imminent self-harm.” Prosecutors didn’t object.
The case returned to court in December, but Clancy wasn’t present because her attorney Kevin Reddington waived her appearance because “logistics of hearings from the hospital are difficult,” the Boston Herald reported at the time.
Reddington also waived her appearance for Wednesday’s hearing, which was slated for the Plymouth Superior Court location in Brockton.
During Wednesday’s proceeding, a motion for a DNA buccal swab was allowed, a spokesperson for the DA’s office told Boston 25 News. Buccal cells line the inner cheek inside the mouth and are said to be a “good source of DNA for reference samples.”
A future court date for discovery motions was set for March 26, 2024, but Clancy has already waived her presence for that hearing as well, according to the spokesperson.
Since the tragedy unfolded inside the family’s Summer Street home on the evening of Jan. 24, 2023, Reddington has maintained that Clancy, whom he called a “troubled soul,” had been suffering from postpartum depression and that she was overmedicated at the time of her children’s deaths.
Prosecutors say Clancy used exercise bands to strangle her kids before jumping out of a window in a suicide attempt. First responders located Clancy’s three children in the basement, unconscious, and with obvious signs of severe trauma.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death to Cora and Dawson was asphyxia, and the cause of death to Callan was complications of asphyxia.
After the alleged murders, Reddington said that his client suffered serious spinal injuries that left her paralyzed.
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