Lindsay Clancy trial set for February, more than three years after deaths of her three children in Duxbury home
Her lawyer, Kevin J. Reddington, has said she was overmedicated while suffering from mental illness and has indicated he will argue Clancy was not guilty by reason of insanity in court.
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Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz's office maintains she was in her right mind and is demanding that New Yorker magazine hand over confidential materials they say will help prove it.
The magazine published a lengthy story, written by Eren Orbey, based on interviews with Patrick Clancy, Lindsay's husband and the father of the three children, Patrick Clancy's parents, and
Patrick Clancy moved to Manhattan after the death of his children and was quoted in the New Yorker as saying that 'I wasn't married to a monster — I was married to someone who got sick.'
Prosecutors cited his account of his conversation with Lindsay after he discovered their children in the basement to justify their requests for internal New Yorker information, such as Orbey's notes of conversations, including off-the-record information, with Patrick Clancy and others quoted in the story, along with voice mails, text messages, and emails between the author and the subjects of the story.
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Prosecutors cited as an example that 'the article quotes Patrick as saying: 'I think one of the first things I asked was, 'Did you plan this? Is that why you sent me out? ... She said, 'No, it just was, like, a snap of the fingers.''
On Wednesday,
Superior Court Judge William F. Sullivan took the request under advisement after a hearing in Plymouth Superior Court, records show.
The renewed effort asks for the same data using a new legal strategy.
The New Yorker previously opposed the request by Cruz's office. The magazine was represented by Jonathan Albano, a First Amendment lawyer based in Boston who also represents the Boston Globe.
The magazine argued the request intrudes 'on the constitutionally protected work of journalists.'
'The premise of the Commonwealth's motion is that the journalistic materials at issue potentially might contain information helpful to the prosecution. Much more than that is required,' the magazine said.
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John R. Ellement can be reached at
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