Lindsay Clancy’s possible decision to skip graphic testimony is ‘risky,’ Boston attorney says

Free trial hearings continue for Lindsay Clancy. The Duxbury mother is charged with murdering her three children. Yesterday we learned the judge for the trial is allowing Clancy to not be present during testimony. Boston 25's Bob Ward spoke with a defense attorney who says it's rare but not unprecedented. The Lindsay Clancy trial is set to begin next month in Plymouth and now her lawyer is signaling that he might ask that Lindsay be excused from her own trial when graphic evidence is introduced. Boston attorney Peter Ellican tells me Clancy has that right but it carries some risk. The facts in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial are highly disturbing. The Duxbury woman is charged with strangling her three young children with exercise bands after sending her former husband out of the house on an errand. Clancy herself is now confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed after jumping from a window in an alleged suicide attempt. Clancy's lawyer will argue she was not criminally responsible because she suffered postpartum psychosis and was over medicated. In this pre-trial hearing Judge William Sullivan granted the prosecution's motion to allow autopsy photos as well as Lindsay's ex-husband's emotional 911 call as he discovered the scene. I'm still looking into whether I can have her not even be in the courtroom during that. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington told reporters that evidence might be too emotionally debilitating for Lindsay Clancy and he might seek to excuse her from court when that evidence is coming in. I don't even like to be there in murder cases and look at half the stuff that you have to look at. I don't understand how you know she's going to be able to have the strength to go through that. It's true a defendant does have the right to waive presence during the trial with usually with the judge's permission. That is very very rarely done. Boston defense attorney Peter Ellican tells me it's rare but not unprecedented for a defendant to skip trial testimony. In New Hampshire Adam Montgomery sat out nearly his entire trial for the death of his daughter Harmony Montgomery. In Clancy's case Ellican says there is no way to predict what jurors might think if Clancy is not there as graphic evidence is introduced. The jury can read all kinds of things to it even though the judge at the end of the trial will instruct them not to consider the presence whether they're or not. The jury can read things into it and it is risky. Kevin Reddington said this decision will be Lindsay Clancy's alone. Jury selection is set for July 20th. I'm Bob Ward for your local station Boston 25 News.