Overview
- Opening statements were delivered on July 27, 2026, before an 18-member jury in Plymouth Superior Court as the trial opened to conflicting narratives from prosecutors and the defense.
- Prosecutors say investigators will show evidence of premeditation, including phone searches about killing, timing that sent her husband out of the house, and use of exercise bands to strangle the children.
- The defense contends Clancy was suffering a rare postpartum psychosis worsened by extensive psychiatric polypharmacy and says she heard command voices before killing the three children and then attempted suicide that left her paralyzed.
- Patrick Clancy is expected to testify early for the prosecution, and Judge William F. Sullivan has ordered that his 911 call and the children’s autopsy photos be impounded from public release while being shown to the jury.
- The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks with nearly 200 potential witnesses and dueling psychiatric experts at stake because a conviction brings mandatory life without parole while a finding of lack of criminal responsibility would likely result in commitment to a state psychiatric hospital.