Lindsay Clancy's Attorney Kevin Reddington Pushes for TikTok User Who Worked at McLean Hospital to Testify at Murder Trial
Lindsay Clancy's attorney wants a TikTok user to testify on her behalf.
Aug. 11 2026, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Lindsay Clancy's lawyers want to call a surprise, last-minute witness to the stand to testify in her murder trial, RadarOnline.com can report.
Emily Thorndike, who has been following the trial, took to TikTok for a lengthy post slamming McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, where Clancy was an inpatient just weeks before she killed her three children and attempted to kill herself.
A Last-Minute Witness Might Tip the Scales
Clancy has argued she was not in her right mind when she killed her three young children.
Thorndike, a licensed clinical social worker who was employed by McLean Hospital for over seven years, took to the social media platform to give her opinion of the conditions at the facility – countering the prosecution's portrayal.
She posted a nearly 10-minute rant on her former employer and explained in the caption, "Long video, but I felt it important to address the lies and misinformation the prosecution is telling, particularly about McLean Hospital. This is an absolutely [sic] tragedy."
Now defense attorney Kevin Reddington wants to call Thorndike as a witness after being alerted to her videos.
"Her involvement in this case came about after the prosecutor made it out on direct exam that McLean is some kind of a five-star institution," Reddington said.
Defense Attorneys Want to Let Emily Thorndike Share Her Experiences at the Hospital
Emily Thorndike used to work at the psychiatric hospital where Clancy sought treatment.
In his official motion to call Thorndike, Reddington argued, "Ms. Thorndike's testimony would be limited to her experience and observations of the routine policies, staffing structure, clinical roles, patient care practice, and operation of the short-term unit as personally observed during her employment at McLean.
"Ms. Thorndike was incensed over the cross-examination of Patrick Clancy wherein the prosecutor intimated that McLean Hospital was one of the best hospitals in the country and that Lindsay Clancy was offered a number of therapeutic and counselling type interventions while at McLean from December 31, 2022 through Jan. 4, 2023."
He added, "Ms. Thorndike would like to testify to the actual facts of the staffing and lack of resources during weekend and holiday periods, as well as the repeated use of clay, coloring books, and purported group therapy sessions, supervised by unqualified individuals who have no psychiatric or social work experience."
Prosecutors Don't Want Emily Thorndike to Testify
Thorndike went on a rant bashing the care at McLean Hospital.
However, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued that Thorndike should not be allowed to testify because she was not at the facility when Clancy was there, having left the hospital a year before Clancy's admission.
"In this case we deal in facts. We're presenting facts to the jury. We're not presenting somebody's opinion about what kind of care the defendant got during her time at McLean," Sprague said. "This isn't someone who's proposed to be an expert... She's been following the trial."
Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan did not rule on the defense's motion for Thorndike to testify, but took arguments under advisement.
He said he is inclined to have Thorndike come into the courtroom for questioning during voir dire without the jury present.
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Lindsay Clancy's State of Mind
Clancy strangled her children just weeks after she was discharged from the hospital.
Weeks after Clancy was discharged from McLean, she fatally strangled her three young children, allegedly with exercise bands. Her ex-husband, Patrick, discovered the bodies of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan in the family's downstairs basement.
After the killing, Clancy went upstairs to their bedroom, where she allegedly cut herself and jumped out a window in a bid to kill herself. The fall left her paralyzed from the waist down.
She does not deny killing her children, but the defense claims she was not criminally responsible, arguing that she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum depression at the time.
