This story may contain content readers find disturbing or triggering. For help with postpartum mood disorders, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is free, confidential, and 24/7. Text or call 1-833-TLC-MAMA. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 988 or go to 988lifeline.org to chat online.
The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother charged with killing her three children, continues Tuesday with more witness testimony.
Julie Paul, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who prescribed several of the medications Lindsay Clancy took during a period of rapidly changing psychiatric treatment in late 2022, is expected to return to the stand to face more questions from prosecutors.
On Monday, jurors heard Clancy’s defense attorney aggressively question Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Clancy’s former psychiatrist who treated Clancy in the months leading up to the killings. Kevin Reddington sought to cast doubt on Tufts’ experience level, competence, and whether she did her due diligence in her treatment of Clancy, questions that reflect an effort to build the argument that Clancy’s medical providers failed her.
Clancy and her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against Tufts and others involved in Clancy’s postpartum psychiatric care.
Clancy has admitted to killing her three young children at the family’s Duxbury home. Prosecutors contend that she acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible. Clancy’s defense says she suffered from postpartum psychosis, which affected her sense of reality.
Clancy, who cut herself and jumped from a second-story window in a failed attempt to end her life after killing her children, remains paralyzed from the waist down. She has been held without bail at Tewksbury State Hospital, where she continues to receive treatment.
Should jurors acquit her in Plymouth Superior Court, she would not go free but would be sent to a state psychiatric hospital where she’d come up for periodic reviews to determine whether she can live safely in the community.
Leave a voicemail with your thoughts on the trial
By Victoria McGrane, Globe Staff
The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy has stirred a range of emotions for those watching the testimony or reading about the details.
What is your reaction to the trial? The Boston Globe has set up a voice mailbox where you can call and describe your thoughts about the trial, share emotions it has stirred up for you, or tell us your own personal experiences. We will listen to the responses and may use selected voicemail recordings or transcriptions in a future story or other online presentation.
Simply call (617) 468-8569 to leave your message. If you prefer, you can also send a text message. If you are willing to be contacted by a reporter, please leave your name and phone number in your message. The Globe will not disclose personal information without permission.
Defendant Lindsay Clancy listens to Dr. Jennifer Tufts on the witness stand during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot LedgeWho is Julie Paul and what do you need to know about her treatment of Lindsay Clancy?
By Sarah Rahal, Globe Staff
Julie Paul, a longtime South Shore maternal health provider who later helped build a behavioral health program specifically for pregnant and postpartum women, took the stand Monday about treating Clancy in 2022.
Paul is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwife. She is the former director of the perinatal behavioral health program at South Shore Health, which she started in 2018. The program supports women in preconception, pregnancy, postpartum and parenting, up to 2 years who are experiencing mood disorders or substance use disorders. By October 2020, the program had completed 486 new patient intakes and more than 2,500 follow-up appointments, according to South Shore Health website.
She knew and briefly worked with Sue Clancy, Lindsay Clancy’s mother-in-law who also worked as a labor and delivery nurse. Sue Clancy reached out to Paul to connect Lindsay Clancy for care, she said.
Julie Paul takes the stand on Monday, Aug. 10.Court TV
Paul prescribed several of the medications Clancy took during a period of rapidly changing psychiatric treatment in late 2022. On Nov. 21, Paul prescribed 10 milligrams of Prozac, an antidepressant. Four days later, on Nov. 25, she prescribed three additional medications: 5 milligrams of Ambien for sleep; 5 milligrams of Remeron, an antidepressant also used to help with sleep; and 0.5 milligrams of Klonopin, an anti-anxiety medication.
“She verbally understood the instructions of taking the medications,” said Paul, adding in addition to medication, “I set her up with talk therapy as well.”
Paul transferred Clancy’s care on Nov. 30. Paul couldn’t recall when her follow up was supposed to be with Nurse Practitioner Rebecca Jollotta.
Paul earned a bachelors degree in nursing from Saint Anselm College in 1991 and worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Elliot Hospital in New Hampshire for 15 years. She received a master’s degree in nurse-midwifery from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Frontier Nursing University in 2011. She also completed a post-master’s teaching certificate at Boston College and later trained as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner.
Paul was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2016.
Paul left South Shore Health in December 2023. Her LinkedIn states she served as director of women’s mental health at Rivia Mind and worked with FamilyWell before launching Empower Perinatal, her own practice focused on psychiatric care during pregnancy and postpartum.
Here’s how Monday’s testimony unfolded
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Dr. Jennifer Tufts, the psychiatrist who treated Lindsay Clancy in the months before she killed her three children, faced aggressive cross-examination from the Duxbury mother’s defense attorney in Clancy’s murder trial on Monday.
Kevin Reddington asked Tufts about the number of postpartum patients she treated before Clancy, if she has authored any medical articles on the topics of postpartum mental health, the level of contact she had with members of Clancy’s family, the thoroughness of the notes she took during her appointments, and how deeply she questioned Clancy when the patient expressed feeling depressed.
Dr. Jennifer Tufts testifies for second day
The Lindsay Clancy trial resumed Monday with Dr. Tufts testifying for the second day.
Reddington repeatedly returned to the fact that Tufts only ever held virtual appointments with Clancy, never meeting her in person, and appeared exasperated when Tufts said she did not request medical records from another clinic Clancy had visited.
The courtroom was packed, as more spectators lined up to get into the trial for Reddington’s highly anticipated questioning than any day since Clancy’s former husband, Patrick, testified during the first week of the trial.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Jenna Reyes can be reached at jenna.reyes@globe.com. Follow her @jennaelaney and Instagram @jennaelaney.