13.John Santos — Direct/Cross
191 linesMS. SPRAGUE: Commonwealth calls John Santos.
THE COURT: Good afternoon, sir.
JOHN SANTOS: Good afternoon, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Please, Sprague, please.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you. Good afternoon. Can you please state and spell your name for the record?
JOHN SANTOS: Good afternoon. My name's John Santos. J-O-H-N S-A-N-T-O-S.
MS. SPRAGUE: Where do you work?
JOHN SANTOS: The Massachusetts State Police.
MS. SPRAGUE: And where do you currently—what department are you currently in?
JOHN SANTOS: I'm assigned to the division of investigative services.
MS. SPRAGUE: And back in January of 2023, what was your assignment?
JOHN SANTOS: I was assigned to the state police detective unit in Plymouth County.
MS. SPRAGUE: And were you, specifically on January 24th, 2023, were you part of a search warrant team at 47 Summer Street in Duxbury?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, I was.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what was your role in terms of where you were assigned to search within the home?
JOHN SANTOS: I searched multiple locations to include the basement, the kitchen area, and then the master bedroom on the second floor.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And specifically directing your attention to the kitchen area, did you search a cabinet in the kitchen above and to the right of the stove?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. Showing you a photograph. Is this a clear and accurate depiction of the items you found in that cabinet on January 24th, 2023?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, it is.
MS. SPRAGUE: If I could have this photo marked as an exhibit.
THE COURT: That may be admitted. May be admitted.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 145.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you. Showing you exhibit one forty-five on the screen here. So, focusing your attention on the top shelf, there were several notebooks and books that were seized. Is that correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Were those taken out of the cabinet and cataloged by the state police?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, they were.
MS. SPRAGUE: I'm gonna show you five items. If you could just look through these and let me know if these were the items that were taken.
MR. REDDINGTON: We'll stipulate that those are the items that were in her kitchen.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. SPRAGUE: If I could have these marked as the next five exhibits, please.
THE COURT: Do you want the five separate or five A through—
MS. SPRAGUE: Five separate.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. SPRAGUE: Please.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 146 through 150.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
MS. SPRAGUE: And sir, showing you what's been marked one forty-six.
MS. SPRAGUE: Those appear to be discharge paperwork from McLean Hospital for Lindsay Clancy?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And this discharge paperwork on the third page included a list of medications. Is that correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: So we have lorazepam one milligram, melatonin five milligrams, and trazodone fifty milligrams, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Along with description of when she's to take those medications, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: There's also instructions on...
MS. SPRAGUE: The sixth page in about resources for therapy and community services, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then exhibit one forty-seven is a notebook. Inside it has postpartum depression and anxiety patient information sheet, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then a detailing of different medications, and the amounts taken and the dates they were taken, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Then there was a book, Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts. Item one forty-eight, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then one forty-nine, a postpartum, pregnancy and postpartum anxiety workbook, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And nothing is filled out in this workbook, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then finally, exhibit one fifty, a notebook labeled Helen Patrick Clancy, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And inside this were messages back and forth between Lindsay Clancy and the nanny, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Now, you mentioned that you searched several rooms in the home, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: How do you divide that up? How is it decided who's going to search where when you're doing a search like this in a home?
JOHN SANTOS: It's somewhat fluid. We try not to send too many people in one room at a time 'cause we end up tripping over each other to a certain extent. So, usually it's kinda as we go along 'cause we don't have an idea of what the layout of the house is before we get there, so it's difficult to plan that. So the supervisors who are overseeing the search will direct different troopers or investigators to search different rooms.
MS. SPRAGUE: And so you said you searched the kitchen area, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Were you present when prescription medication was found in the kitchen, or had you already moved on?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't recall the medication being found while I was there.
MS. SPRAGUE: And are you... When you search a room, are you the only one searching or are there other team members searching different parts of the room, kind of a divide and conquer?
JOHN SANTOS: Exactly. That's how it is. We divide and search different sections of the room.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And you said you went to the basement area. Do you remember what side of the basement you searched?
JOHN SANTOS: I was in the office portion of the basement.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And had anyone already been in that room, or were you the first to go in, or did you know?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe somebody had already been in that room when I made my way down there. I don't recall who was in there, but I don't think I was the first person to make my way in that room.
MS. SPRAGUE: And you didn't collect anything in that room, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: I did collect—
MS. SPRAGUE: Oh, you did. Okay.
JOHN SANTOS: ... some items in the office, yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: What items did you collect in the office?
JOHN SANTOS: There was, I believe, two laptop computers and a external hard drive.
MS. SPRAGUE: And so you collected those items from the office, and when you do a search warrant, is there one trooper assigned to keep track of everything that's found, where it's found, who found it?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, there is.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And so when—do you recall who that person was in this case?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't recall. No.
MS. SPRAGUE: And but when you do find something, is it you bring it to that person and they kind of log it and then you move on and keep looking for other things?
JOHN SANTOS: Normally, the evidence officer would come down. We assign them and label them the evidence officer for each search warrant. They would come down to the area, or to the area where the item was being recovered from, and we'd also have crime scene services photo the item in place as well before it was collected. So the evidence officer would come to us.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. So for example, with the laptops, photos would be taken of them in the office, and then they would be logged, and then they'd be taken out of the office?
JOHN SANTOS: Exactly.
MS. SPRAGUE: And is that what happened with the books and the notebooks that we discussed earlier?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And you said you then went up at some point to the main bedroom, the master bedroom?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what did you do inside the master bedroom?
JOHN SANTOS: I assisted with searching the master bedroom. I don't believe I recovered anything within there.
MS. SPRAGUE: Do you recall ever looking in the nightstand drawer or anywhere near the nightstand by the open window?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't believe I did, no.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And is there any reason why you wouldn't have gone into that drawer or looked in that drawer?
JOHN SANTOS: Somebody else was probably already searching that area, would be my guess.
MS. SPRAGUE: What area did you search in the bedroom?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe there was a closet. When you walk into the bedroom, I believe there was, like, a closet area to the left. I was in that area, and then I made my way to, at some point, to the left side of the bed as well.
MS. SPRAGUE: And did you find anything in the bedroom of note?
JOHN SANTOS: No.
MS. SPRAGUE: Now, when you're doing a search warrant, right when an investigation happens, how do you know what to look for?
JOHN SANTOS: Well, it depends on what you're investigating. This case specifically, we knew the facts, at, oh, what we knew at that time. So I mean, when I noticed those notebooks in the cabinet, certainly I thought that information was pertinent to this investigation based on what we knew. But every investigation is a little bit different. The facts are different. So—
MS. SPRAGUE: Yeah.
JOHN SANTOS: I mean, clearly you wanna look for items that relate to the suspect, victims, or any associates of them, and that might relate to the incident that's being investigated.
MS. SPRAGUE: When the search was being done in the home at 47 Summer Street that night, did officers already know that Ms. Clancy had crushed up pills and taken them with lemonade?
JOHN SANTOS: No.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. Had you learned from Patrick Clancy, the husband, that she, Ms. Clancy, had been prescribed some medication?
JOHN SANTOS: I did, yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And were you aware at some point that medication was found in the kitchen?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. I have nothing further. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. Mr. Reddington?
MR. REDDINGTON: Who found the medication in the kitchen?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't recall, sir. I, yeah, it—
MR. REDDINGTON: It certainly wasn't somebody randomly off the street. It was a cop, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yeah, a police officer or investigator, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: A police—
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
JOHN SANTOS: Well, we had some local officers there with us as well.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah. So it was law enforcement that found the pill bottles in the kitchen, right?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe so.
MR. REDDINGTON: And seized them. Is that correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: And documented that they had seized them in the kitchen, feeling, someone, whoever it was, that it was relevant material to this investigation, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: And the books that we've just gone through, someone felt that a notebook captioned "Callan Patrick Clancy" would be relevant material to this investigation, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: Right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Along with the Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety workbook, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: Along with the Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Along with the documents pertinent to the McLean Hospital where she had been discharged from, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Along with another notebook that had postnatal depression and anxiety, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: There were also other documents that were—items, I should say—that were seized in the house that have already been introduced in the record. Exhibit 81, yeah. Looks like a diary. Exhibit 83, “I slept well last night,” things of that nature. That was seized as well, right?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe so, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Do you know why all these were seized?
JOHN SANTOS: Why the books that I seized were seized?
MR. REDDINGTON: No, no, no. Your investigation. Are you a lieutenant, a sergeant, a detective?
JOHN SANTOS: I'm a captain, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: A captain.
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: And back then, what was your... Were you a captain?
JOHN SANTOS: I was a lieutenant at that time.
MR. REDDINGTON: You were the ranking officer during the search?
JOHN SANTOS: No, there was also a detective lieutenant assigned unit commander at that time.
MR. REDDINGTON: So, but you're involved and you knew from the investigation what was relevant and material in the investigation, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And obviously you or somebody else working with you determined that all of these items, the pills that were seized, the books that were seized from the kitchen, et cetera, were relevant and material, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you know who searched the bedroom? I know you said you were in there. Did you search the bedroom, master bedroom?
JOHN SANTOS: I was part of the team that searched the bedroom. There were a number of other officers that searched the bedroom as well. I believe in the report it documents who seized what from the bedroom.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay.
JOHN SANTOS: So I don't know off the top of my head who that was, sir, but I know it's clearly labeled in the report.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Do you have the report?
JOHN SANTOS: I do not, no.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you recall how many law officers were actually involved in that little bedroom searching?
JOHN SANTOS: I would have to guess, approximately five.
MR. REDDINGTON: Five? And as counsel asked, when somebody discovered something that appeared to be relevant or material, they would log it in. Somebody that would kinda be the record keeper would log it in, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Is there any... One of the things that you would also, you yourself I believe, seized would be the laptop computers that were downstairs in the office, right?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And you seized also, collectively you, I mean you or the other five people, seized the cellphone that was on the bed.
JOHN SANTOS: Yes, I believe there was a cellphone seized from the bedroom.
MR. REDDINGTON: So it made sense as an investigator that electronic media and things of that nature would be important, correct?
JOHN SANTOS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Was there an Apple Watch involved in this investigation, if you know?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe there was an Apple Watch recovered after the fact that was... We didn't recover it the search warrant, if I recall correctly.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you know when it was recovered?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't know exactly off the top of my head, no, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: The Apple Watch that I recovered with Pat Clancy?
JOHN SANTOS: I believe so, sir. Yeah, I believe there was a watch that was turned into us after the fact that wasn't recovered during the search warrant.
MR. REDDINGTON: So looking at this drawer. Do you recall that next to the bed, or in the bedroom, there was a nightstand and there was a drawer, and inside the drawer were a bunch of pill bottles, an Apple Watch, sleeping aids, things of that nature?
JOHN SANTOS: I didn't search that drawer, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. I don't mean to embarrass you. I'm just asking.
JOHN SANTOS: Yeah.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you know why nobody bothered to search that drawer?
JOHN SANTOS: I don't know that it wasn't searched. I just know that I didn't search it, sir. So it may have been searched, and maybe whoever searched it didn't feel that that information was pertinent to seize. I can't speak for them, but I can tell you that I didn't search that drawer.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. That's all I have, Judge.
THE COURT: Redirect?
MS. SPRAGUE: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir.
JOHN SANTOS: Thank you, Your Honor.