The 36-year-old mother repeatedly sobbed and struggled to regain her composure during the testimony. While Clancy does not dispute causing the deaths of her three children, a central question at trial is whether her mental state at the time could affect her criminal responsibility.

Lindsay Clancy erupts into sobs, yells as medical examiner testifies about autopsy of her daughter: ‘I can’t do this!’
Lindsay Clancy sobs during Cora’s autopsy testimony, cries out ‘I can’t do it!’

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial was brought to a standstill Wednesday — as the paralyzed mom whimpered, “I can’t do this” during heartbreaking testimony about her slain 5-year-old daughter’s autopsy.

Clancy broke down sobbing and hyperventilating minutes into testimony from Barbara Olson, a medical examiner in Massachusetts, who went into details about Cora Clancy’s autopsy.

“I can’t do this,” interrupted Clancy, 36, who strangled her three kids with exercise bands.

Lindsay Clancy, left, sobs as her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, right, listens to graphic testimony during Clancy's murder trial.
Lindsay Clancy weeped and said “I can’t do this!” during her murder trial on Aug. 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Judge William Sullivan immediately called a break and let the jury out of the room.

Two women then came into the courtroom well and put their hands on Clancy’s back to console her, as she wept and struggled to catch her breath.

This was the second break Sullivan called Wednesday afternoon following audible crying from Clancy. She bawled through the testimony of another medical examiner, Renee Stonebridge, who told the jury she examined certain body parts of Clancy’s three kids.

After the break, Olson told jurors she determined Cora died of asphyxiation and said it would have been a painful death for the little girl.

“There is a component of pain present until loss of consciousness occurs,” Olson said, noting that it could have lasted between 10 and 30 seconds.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington consoles Lindsay Clancy in court.
Clancy getting comforted by her attorney, Kevin Reddington, after she burst into tears.Mark Stockwell/Pool The Boston Herald via AP

Olson also conducted the autopsy of Clancy’s middle child, Dawson, 3, finding he too died of asphyxiation, she testified.

Clancy continued to whimper and rested her head on her arms on the defense table, until the questioning of Olson was complete and the jury was dismissed for the day.

Clancy – a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, Mass. – killed Cora, Dawson and 8-month-old Callan on Jan. 24, 2023. She then immediately sliced her wrists and neck and threw herself out of the window of her second-floor bedroom.

Lindsay Clancy being wheeled out of the courtroom, sobbing, with her caretakers and defense attorney Kevin Reddington.
Clancy’s breakdown happened while a medical examiner testified about her Cora Clancy’s autopsy.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Clancy paralyzed herself in the fall and is now wheelchair bound.

Clancy also wept last week when another ME testified about Callan’s autopsy.

She is not contesting the murders but wants a jury to find her not guilty by reason of insanity on the grounds she was in the throes of severe postpartum depression, partially caused by being overmedicated on prescription medications.

Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has also claimed she heard voices telling her to commit the heinous acts.

Dr. Barbara Olson testifies at the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.
Dr. Barbara Olson was on the stand when Judge William Sullivan called a break.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Earlier Wednesday, the jury learned that Clancy called her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, from the hospital and told him she heard voices telling her to kill the kids.

Clancy had been recovering from her suicide attempt at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston when Reddington won a court order for a psychiatrist to visit her in her room, which was guarded by cops.

Dr. Paul Zeizel let Clancy use his cell phone during the visit to call Patrick, State Trooper Daniel Lawlor later learned. He’d been posted outside of her room but didn’t hear the conversation between the shrink and Clancy.


Lawlor and lead investigator, State Trooper Joshua McKelligan, later speculated that the doctor told Clancy to tell her husband about hearing voices as a defense strategy, Lawlor testified. He admitted there was no evidence to back up that theory.

During Lawlor’s testimony, prosecutor Shanan Buckingham held up the bloodied clothes he picked up from the hospital that were cut from Clancy’s body.

Jurors also heard testimony Wednesday from counselor Latiesha Dukes, who saw Clancy on four occasions in December 2022 — a time when Clancy had lost 10 pounds, was only getting two-to-four hours of sleep a night and was having thoughts of suicide, Dukes testified.

In fact, Clancy had called a suicide hotline twice that month and was turned away because she didn’t have concrete plans to act on her dark thoughts, Dukes said.

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