Patrick Clancy ran through the streets of Chicago on Sunday, competing in this year's Chicago Marathon just weeks after testifying in the murder trial of his ex-wife, Lindsay Clancy, which ended without a verdict. A spokesperson for the Chicago Marathon confirmed his entry into the race, and he was seen competing in the city over the weekend.
The marathon came less than two weeks after a Plymouth Superior Court judge refused to grant Lindsay Clancy's defense team a court-ordered acquittal, according to NBC 5 Chicago. On October 1, Judge William Sullivan ruled that prosecutors had presented sufficient physical and circumstantial evidence for a jury to decide whether she was criminally responsible, as reported by The Guardian. Defense lawyers had argued there was insufficient evidence to prove she was responsible for killing the children.
Lindsay Clancy, Patrick's ex-wife, was tried on charges stemming from the January 2023 killings of the couple's three young children and her own attempted suicide. Patrick Clancy testified at her trial earlier this year and has said he believes his ex-wife's mental illness led her to kill their children. Her defense attorneys argued she was afflicted with postpartum psychosis, a condition described as rare.
A Jury Deadlocked, Not Acquitted
On September 4, a 12-person Plymouth Superior Court jury ended deliberations after seven days — nearly 40 hours of discussion — deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of finding Lindsay Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, according to The Guardian. The result was a mistrial rather than an acquittal, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case.
The near-unanimous lean toward acquittal reflects the legal standard that governed the jury's deliberations. Under Massachusetts case law established in Commonwealth v. McHoul, once a defendant introduces evidence of mental incapacity, prosecutors carry the entire burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was criminally responsible at the time of the offense, Hoodline previously reported in its coverage of pretrial rulings in the case. Clinical research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry indicates first-onset postpartum psychosis affects roughly 0.25 to 0.6 per 1,000 births, but a woman's relative risk of a psychotic episode is 23 times higher in the month after childbirth than at any other period.
Parallel Lawsuits Target Medical Providers
Separately from the criminal case, both parents are pursuing their own civil medical malpractice lawsuits against the healthcare providers who treated Lindsay before the killings. In January, Patrick Clancy filed a wrongful death suit in Norfolk Superior Court against Dr. Jennifer Tufts, nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta, Aster Mental Health Inc., and South Shore Health System Inc., alleging that misprescribed medications and inadequate monitoring directly caused his children's deaths, Hoodline reported in its story on the wrongful death filing.
Patrick has sought a minimum of $1 million in damages, while the defendants deny liability and have moved to dismiss the claims. Lindsay Clancy has filed her own separate malpractice claim against a different set of providers, though South Shore Health System is named in both suits, meaning both former spouses are independently pressing healthcare institutions for accountability even as the criminal case against her remains unresolved.
A Running Habit Rooted in Grief
Sunday's race was not Patrick Clancy's first marathon since the tragedy. In April 2024, he completed the Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 19 seconds, wearing his children's names on his bib and carrying personal items belonging to them while raising more than $75,000 for Boston Children's Hospital's Miles for Miracles team, according to RUN Magazine. That Boston run marked his first marathon following the January 2023 tragedy, establishing a pattern of using long-distance running and charity fundraising to honor Cora, Dawson, and Callan as he rebuilt his life.
Running has also shaped his personal life. Patrick Clancy met his new wife while running in New York's Central Park. During a September 20 interview on CBS News' 60 Minutes — his first major broadcast appearance following the mistrial — he revealed he married fertility doctor Dr. Rachel Danis in April, after meeting her in a New York running club in January 2024.
Criminal and Civil Cases Continue
The criminal and civil cases tied to the children's deaths continue to work through Massachusetts courts.
For Patrick Clancy, the Chicago Marathon represented another mile in a long and public process of grief, legal advocacy, and rebuilding — one that has played out under intense scrutiny from the courtroom to the broadcast interview to the open road.
