A former nanny for Lindsay Clancy testified Wednesday that Clancy told her she was experiencing postpartum issues and having difficulty sleeping, but said she observed no change in Clancy’s demeanor and never believed the children were unsafe in her care.
“Not at all. She was a wonderful mom,” Elaine Rossi said when a prosecutor asked whether she had any concerns about Clancy’s interactions with her children.
Rossi, who had worked as a nanny for about 15 years, said she cared for the Clancy children three days a week from September until early December 2022.
Clancy also told Rossi she was having difficulty sleeping and had been sleeping in the basement, the former nanny testified. On cross-examination, Rossi said she noticed Clancy appeared to be losing a significant amount of weight and had commented to her about it.
Rossi described Clancy as a loving and attentive mother who was concerned about the children’s safety and closely tracked Callan’s eating and sleeping schedule. She said Clancy left detailed instructions in a notebook but that she did not find the directions overbearing or controlling.
“She was a wonderful mom who loved her kids,” Rossi testified. “She was very concerned with their safety.”
Rossi said the family ended her employment after Thanksgiving because Clancy would not be returning to work and both parents planned to remain home with the children.
WATCH: Lindsay Clancy trial breaks early after nanny testimony
Earlier Tuesday, Clancy spoke directly in court, repeatedly answering, “Yes, Your Honor,” as she agreed to let prosecutors treat certain forensic facts as established. Hours later, a state police trooper testified that investigators recovered no usable fingerprints from a knife or three exercise bands.
The developments narrowed the Massachusetts mother’s murder trial toward its central dispute: whether Clancy was criminally responsible when her three children were killed inside the family’s Duxbury home.
Before jurors entered the courtroom, Judge William Sullivan questioned Clancy about a stipulation covering certain evidence.
WATCH: Lindsay Clancy questioned by judge before giving up key rights at murder trial
“You understand that by signing the stipulation, you’re agreeing that the Commonwealth does not have to prove these certain facts that are contained in the stipulation,” Sullivan said. “Do you understand that?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Clancy replied.
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Asked whether anyone had forced or threatened her to accept the agreement, Clancy said, “No, Your Honor.”
Sullivan found that Clancy was competent and had entered the stipulation “knowingly, intelligently, voluntarily and willingly.”
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Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said the agreement would prevent prosecutors from calling dozens of witnesses solely to establish the chain of custody for blood, bodily fluids, exercise bands and DNA evidence.
“We have not been contesting the government’s case in chief, if you will,” Reddington said.
WATCH: Massachusetts crime lab expert details blood drug levels in Lindsay Clancy case
The stipulation is not a guilty plea or an admission that Clancy was criminally responsible for the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.
WATCH: Former prosecutor explains strategy behind Lindsay Clancy evidence agreement
Margaret McLean, a former criminal prosecutor and trial attorney who teaches law at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, said the agreement allows the defense to steer jurors away from repetitive forensic testimony and toward Clancy’s mental state.
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“The legal strategy behind the move by the defense is to steer the jury’s focus away from the horrific nature of the acts and to that central issue of criminal intent, or what we would call mens rea,” McLean told Fox News Digital.
McLean said Clancy’s measured responses Tuesday should not be taken as evidence of her mental condition on Jan. 24, 2023.
“She sounded rational. She understands what she’s doing,” McLean said. “But remember, the Commonwealth’s burden of proof is to prove that she was sane beyond a reasonable doubt at the time the crimes were committed — not today, not two weeks ago.”
WATCH: Trooper details crime scene evidence collection at Lindsey Clancy’s home
Later, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Jonathan O’Loughlin testified about examining a knife and three exercise bands collected from the home.
O’Loughlin said the knife contained an area of friction-ridge impression, but investigators could not use it to identify anyone.
“There was not enough characteristics or minutia to do any comparison,” O’Loughlin said, adding that the impression had “no value.”
The yellow, black and blue exercise bands similarly produced no impressions suitable for comparison.
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“The bottom line is that you didn’t get any fingerprints,” Reddington said.
“Correct,” O’Loughlin replied.
O’Loughlin said fingerprints are “very, very, very fragile” and can be affected by an object’s texture, environmental conditions, movement, grip strength or whether a surface was wiped.
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McLean said the absence of identifiable prints could make jurors wonder whether gloves were used or the items were wiped, potentially viewing the missing prints as evidence of planning.
The defense, she said, can counter that jurors must not “speculate on something that’s not in evidence.”
“They can use their common sense when they go to the table and they deliberate,” McLean said, “but they can’t speculate [about] things that are not in the evidence.”
