This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial retraced her ex-husband’s route Friday before walking through the Massachusetts home where the couple’s three children were killed, a court-supervised visit a retired Massachusetts judge said could help the panel understand the timeline and setting at the center of the case.
The move was reminiscent of another high-profile Massachusetts murder trial that recently captured headlines, when Karen Read was acquitted of the top charge during her 2025 retrial.
In Clancy’s case, the 18-member jury panel was driven past ThreeV restaurant in Plymouth and the CVS pharmacy in Kingston that Patrick Clancy visited on Jan. 24, 2023. Jurors were then escorted in groups of six through the family’s former home in Duxbury during a roughly 40-minute visit.
They also saw the basement where Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, were found, as well as the yard beneath the second-story window where Lindsay Clancy was discovered seriously injured after attempting suicide. The fall left the woman paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
Jack Lu, who served 16 years as a Massachusetts Superior Court judge and five years as a Boston Municipal Court judge, said that, in his experience, a view is expected in a Massachusetts homicide trial, particularly a case involving multiple deaths.
“The reality is, on a homicide case, they’re always, always going to do a view,” Lu, now a Boston College law professor, told Fox News Digital.
LINDSAY CLANCY’S EX-HUSBAND DETAILS PILL USE AS EXPERT SAYS EVIDENCE COULD SHAPE MURDER TRIAL
Lu said the clearest benefit may be helping jurors assess how long Patrick was away from the home and understand the locations discussed throughout testimony.
“They’re going to dissect the amount of time involved in the husband’s trip to CVS,” Lu said, adding that the visit could help jurors understand “what kind of time that Ms. Clancy had” after Patrick left.
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Still, Lu cautioned against assuming the view necessarily favored either side or would become decisive.
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“The view is perhaps not obviously crucial to this case,” he said. “It gives them context.”
WATCH: Jurors retrace Patrick Clancy’s errands before finding slain children
A similar procedure was used during Read’s 2025 retrial in Massachusetts, where she was charged with killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
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Jurors were bussed to 34 Fairview Road in Canton, where O’Keefe was found, and viewed the property and Read’s Lexus. Prosecutors and defense attorneys directed jurors’ attention to different details from the case.
WATCH: Jurors in Karen Read’s trial visit scene of John O’Keefe’s death
In Clancy’s case, prosecutors allege she intentionally sent Patrick on the errands to get him out of the house before strangling the children.
Her attorneys do not dispute that she killed her children but argue she lacked criminal responsibility because she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis.
After returning to Plymouth Superior Court on Friday, jurors heard emotional testimony from emergency room doctors who treated Dawson and Callan.
Dr. Mark Tenerowicz testified that hospital staff tried for about 40 minutes to revive Dawson, who arrived without a pulse and was not breathing. He was pronounced dead at about 7:28 p.m.
Dr. Benjamin Kaufman said medical workers restored Callan’s pulse, but the infant remained unable to breathe independently.
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“At no point did he exhibit any brain function,” Kaufman testified.
During testimony, Clancy covered her face and appeared to sob and shake during the doctors’ testimony. Lu described the emotional weight of the proceedings as “exceptional,” even among heavily publicized trials.
“Even among high-profile cases, the emotionalism of this case is extraordinary,” he said, adding that Massachusetts judges are trained to privately address jurors after a verdict about processing the emotional toll of what they went through.
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Judge William Sullivan dismissed the panel on Friday afternoon, saying the trial was “well on schedule, if not ahead.” Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday at 9 a.m.
