Lindsay Clancy has spent more than three years inside a Massachusetts psychiatric hospital, and her legal team says she remains on constant suicide watch. The 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse does not want to be alive. She wakes up every morning thinking about her three children. She goes to sleep and sees them in her dreams.
Her attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, spoke to CBS News in an exclusive interview that aired on Monday, November 2, 2026, describing a woman who is “in a state of constant sadness” and who has told her legal team she wants to be with the children she killed. The interview came just hours before Clancy returned to a Plymouth, Massachusetts courtroom for a hearing that will decide whether she faces a second murder trial.
Trigger Warning: This article discusses child death, suicide, and mental health struggles. Reader discretion is advised.
What Her Attorney Says About Her Daily Life
Scapicchio did not hold back when describing Clancy’s mental state. The attorney said Clancy’s first thought every morning is “that her kids are no longer here” and that she “walks around all day with that right here in her face, every single solitary day”.
“She doesn’t want to be here. She wants to be with her children. … And if given the opportunity, I have no doubt in my mind at all that she would take her own life.” — Rosemary Scapicchio, Clancy’s attorney, to CBS News
The nightmares are a daily reality. Scapicchio said Clancy sleeps and then “has horrible dreams about this”. The attorney described her client as someone who is “locked up in a facility” and “can’t do anything for herself”.
Clancy has never spoken publicly about what happened. Her civil attorneys are among the few people who speak with her regularly. They said she was “scared and nervous” about the possibility of another trial.
Where Lindsay Clancy Is Being Held
Clancy is in custody at Tewksbury Hospital, a state-run psychiatric facility about 20 miles from Boston. She has been there since shortly after the killings in January 2023.
She uses a wheelchair. Clancy is paralyzed from the waist down after she cut her wrists and jumped from a second-story window of her Duxbury home the night her children died. Her parents live outside Massachusetts but visit her fairly frequently. She speaks with them on the phone and also talks to her legal team often.
Scapicchio told PEOPLE in September that Clancy lives in a “state of constant sadness” and remains under 24/7 self-harm watch at the hospital. Another of her attorneys, Kevin Reddington, told CNN that Clancy is “maintaining” and on “appropriate medication” but is “unfortunately on one-to-one watch”.
The Case That Led to This Point
Clancy is charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of her children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. Prosecutors say she strangled them with exercise bands inside the basement of the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023.
She has never denied killing the children. Her defense team argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was overmedicated at the time, meaning she should not be held criminally responsible. Immediately after the killings, Clancy attempted to take her own life.
Her first murder trial ended in a mistrial on September 4, 2026, when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The panel was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
What Happened at the November 2 Hearing
Clancy appeared in Plymouth Superior Court on Monday, November 2, for a hearing on her defense team’s motion to dismiss the charges on double jeopardy grounds. Judge William Sullivan did not issue a ruling on the motion to dismiss. He said he will decide “as soon as I can” and set the next hearing for November 16.
Prosecutors confirmed at the hearing that they plan to retry Clancy, though they have not yet specified what charges they will pursue or what the new trial will look like. Reddington, Clancy’s defense attorney, expressed frustration with the prosecution’s indecision.
“Why do we not know if the next trial is going to be murder in the first degree or a lesser charge or no charge? I need to know logistically.” — Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s defense attorney, in court
Reddington also asked for a swift retrial, telling the judge: “I am not going to have this woman incarcerated for the next year or two or three”. Judge Sullivan said he is picturing a trial date sometime in March 2027 and wants the parties to return in two weeks to set a definite date.
The Family Split: Patrick Clancy Has Moved On
Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, has been open about his grief and his decision to forgive her. In his first televised interview since the mistrial, he told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” in September 2026 that he forgave Clancy for killing their children.
Patrick has remarried. His new wife, Dr. Rachel Danis, joined him for the interview and described him as the “most selfless and supportive partner”. The couple married in April 2026 and now lives in New York.
Scapicchio told CBS that she knows Patrick “has moved on, he has remarried, he is having another child” but declined to comment on whether Clancy and Patrick communicate, calling it “a family issue”.
The Civil Lawsuits: Blame Placed on Medical Providers
Clancy is suing 11 medical professionals she saw in the months before the killings, alleging they failed to properly diagnose and treat her psychiatric condition. The lawsuit, filed in January 2026, claims a “catastrophic failure” by multiple providers. The named defendants include McLean Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital.
Her attorneys insist Clancy was “absolutely” suffering from postpartum psychosis the night of the killings. “This was a psychiatric emergency, and it was never treated as a psychiatric emergency,” Scapicchio said. The defendants dispute those claims.
A separate wrongful death lawsuit filed by Patrick Clancy against a psychiatrist and a nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay is also moving through the courts. Lawyers for those providers asked a judge in late October 2026 to dismiss that suit.
What the Defense Wants for Her Future Care
Scapicchio said part of the goal of the civil case is to make sure Clancy has enough money to live independently after the criminal trial is over. The attorney said Clancy “doesn’t want to be in a position where she’s a burden to anyone”.
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For now, Clancy remains at Tewksbury Hospital, on constant watch, waking up to the same reality every day. Her next court date is November 16, when Judge Sullivan will decide whether the murder charges against her will be dismissed or whether she will face a second trial.
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