Patrick Clancy's emotional mother relays distinct sign of support to former daughter-in-law after fraught testimony

Lindsay Clancy's former mother-in-law showed her a sign of support after delivering emotional testimony about her three slain grandchildren.

Patrick Clancy's mother, Sue Clancy, nodded with intention at her ex-daughter-in-law as she walked off the stand on Tuesday.

Sue faced intense questioning while testifying as a defense witness, including from Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham who asked the grieving grandmother if she was aware that 'murder is considered a mortal sin.'  

Clancy, 36, is on trial for killing her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 2023.

She strangled her children with exercise bands and then allegedly attempted to kill herself, but her efforts failed and left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair for life. 

Clancy has admitted to killing her children but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis, and is seeking to be committed to a state mental health facility rather than a prison sentence.

Sue testified that Clancy loved all her children, and described her as a 'nurturing' and 'wonderful mother.'  

She also rejected the prosecution's suggestion that Clancy disliked her middle son Dawson.

'Did you see her treat her middle son, Dawson, bad because she didn't like him?' defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked her.

'No,' Sue said.

Reddington asked: 'Did she love Dawson in your opinion?'

'She loved her children, all of them, very, very much,' Sue said.

The grieving grandmother added: 'She was very nurturing, very loving; she was a wonderful mother.'

Earlier in the trial, the prosecution entered several pieces of evidence showing Clancy had expressed frustrations with Dawson.

Sue testified that Clancy told her she was struggling with insomnia and depression in the fall of 2022, so she helped to connect her with psychiatric nurse Julie Paul.

'She [Clancy] reached out to me in November and told me that she felt unwell,' the grandmother said.

'Mostly, she had insomnia, she was losing her appetite, she was very anxious and sad.'

When asked if Clancy wanted to get better, Sue said, 'very much so.'

'She was begging for help,' she added.

On cross-examination, Buckingham provoked a tense exchange with Sue.

'Are you an active member in the Catholic church?' the prosecutor asked.

'Yes,' Sue answered.

'So you are aware that murder is considered a mortal sin,' Buckingham continued.

Shortly after the judge struck the question from the record, Sue completed her testimony.

The grieving grandmother looked straight at Clancy and nodded once before exiting the courtroom. 

Sue previously expressed that she has empathy for her former daughter-in-law, but acknowledged she needs to be punished.

'Lindsay has to pay for what she did. Fortunately, it's not up to any of us to define what that payment is,' she told The New Yorker in 2024. 

'I don't hate her, and I don't call her names - I have empathy,' Sue said, adding: 'Lindsay hurt a lot of people. She hurt her parents. She hurt us and all our kids, our cousins, our community.' 

Sue's son, Patrick Clancy, has since remarried, but has publicly forgiven his ex-wife and come out in her defense, describing her as a good mother who became ill.

Both Patrick and Lindsay Clancy have filed separate lawsuits against several of her medical providers alleging that they overmedicated Clancy while treating her for postpartum mental health issues.