There was a dramatic moment in the courtroom Tuesday involving Lindsay Clancy’s former mother-in-law, and people are fired up about it on social media.
It happened as the prosecution was cross-examining Susan Clancy early in the day. It started with Susan Clancy recalling that she had breakfast at Patrick and Lindsay’s home on Christmas morning 2022, followed by going to church.
Lindsay Clancy trial courtroom exchange
The following exchange then happened in court between one of the prosecutors and Susan Clancy.
Prosecution: “Are you an active member in the catholic church?”
Susan Clancy: “Yes.”
Prosecution: “So you’re aware that murder is considered a mortal sin?”
Susan Clancy didn’t answer, defense attorney Kevin Reddington immediately objected, and Judge William Sullivan quickly called counsel over for a sidebar.
The judge ultimately had the question stricken from the record, telling jurors not to consider it for any reason or any purpose.
The Duxbury mother’s defense team called medical experts and her former mother-in-law to testify Tuesday, producing some fireworks, especially during the prosecution’s cross-examinations. Our legal experts break down what happened. Plus, we go one-on-one with defense attorney Kevin Reddington in an interview about the Clancy case and his career.
Reaction to ‘mortal sin’ question
NBC10 chief legal analyst Michael Coyne and courtroom insider Sue O’Connell discussed the dramatic moment during Tuesday night’s “Commonwealth Confidential” — and both had strong reactions to what the prosecution did.
“While [the prosecutor] remembered some of her Catholic school teachings, she forgot the ones about contrition, forgiveness and redemption,” Coyne exclaimed. “The point here is that she was way out of bounds. There’s Mass. rule of evidence 610 says you can’t do it. Federal rule of evidence, if we were in federal court, says the same thing… you can’t ask someone about their religious beliefs, you can’t ask them how often they go to church and you can’t ask them what church it goes in. It has nothing to do with credibility, doesn’t support it, and it’s absolutely impermissible on cross examination.”
Coyne added it doesn’t support the prosecution’s case, either.
The Lindsay Clancy trial is happening in Plymouth County — where 40% are Catholics. So will some jurors hold this incident against the prosecution?
There are a number of issues, according to O’Connell, who said the whole courtroom gasped when the prosecutor asked Susan Clancy the mortal sin question.
“It was like, I had a moment where I just, did she just say what she said? And I asked, ‘What? Did she just say that?’ We were shocked. Everybody was shocked. Jurors reacted. There’s a nice woman sitting right in the middle of the front row who was just shocked, there’s no other way to say it so, a total trainwreck when it comes to that,” O’Connell said. “And the other point I want to make here, [the prosecutor] is a representative DA here of the United States government violating the first amendment by asking a private citizen on the stand about her religious beliefs while she’s under oath. You don’t ask your government to ask you about your religion and plus Sue Clancy is a victim in this case, she is a victim! Is this how you treat your witnesses when they have lost their three grandchildren and their family has been exploded.”
Everybody was apoplectic about this, O’Connell added.
The defense will continue presenting its case Wednesday. Click here to follow along with our live blog and watch a livestream of the court proceedings.