Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother on trial for the January 2023 murders of her three young children, has appeared in court throughout the proceedings using a wheelchair — the result of catastrophic injuries she sustained the same night her kids died. Clancy is now paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from a second-story window of her family’s Duxbury home, and her physical condition has quietly shaped every moment of her murder trial, from her transport to the courthouse to her first spoken words in court.
Here’s everything to know about how Clancy was injured and why she now uses a wheelchair.
Lindsay Clancy Jumped From a 2nd-Story Window
The events that left Clancy paralyzed unfolded on January 24, 2023, inside the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home. Clancy asked her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave the house to pick up dinner for the family. He returned roughly 25 minutes later to a devastating scene.
Patrick discovered that Lindsay had jumped out of a window from the second floor of their home. She survived the fall but was gravely injured. As he called 911 for help, he realized their three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — had been strangled with exercise bands tied around their necks.
Cora and Dawson were rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead soon after. Callan, the couple’s youngest, died a few days later.
Prosecutors have argued that Clancy carefully planned and plotted the killings when she sent her husband out for food. Her defense team, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, has countered that her behavior that evening was the tragic culmination of untreated and mismanaged postpartum illness — not premeditation.
Lindsay Clancy Was Left Paralyzed From the Waist Down
Clancy survived the two-story fall, but the impact caused permanent physical damage. She is now paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair to get around.
The fall left her requiring long-term medical care and mobility assistance. In the aftermath of the incident, she was hospitalized and eventually transferred to Tewksbury Hospital, a state-run public psychiatric facility in Massachusetts, where she has been held throughout the pretrial period.
Her physical condition has factored into logistical decisions surrounding the case, including her transport to and from court proceedings and her seating arrangement in the courtroom. She has appeared in a wheelchair at each hearing and throughout the trial itself, which began on July 27, 2026.
During the trial, Dr. Kelly McDonough, who treated Clancy, told jurors that scans showed the defendant had a “thoracic spine injury.” However, there was no apparent head injury.
“The decision was made by the team that her injuries were too severe to stay at South Shore Hospital, and the decision was made to transfer her to a tertiary care center,” McDonough testified, per Boston.com.
Lindsay Clancy’s Defense Cites Postpartum Psychosis and Medication
While Clancy has not denied killin
