1.Kimberley Springer — Direct
156 linesBAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors enter.
BAILIFF: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons having anything to do before the Honorable William Sullivan, Justice of the Superior Court now sitting in Plymouth within the Commonwealth, draw near, give your attendance, and you shall be heard. By the state of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this court is now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Good morning, Your Honor. May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes, please.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, before the court today, we have the continuation of the jury trial in the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. Ms. Clancy is present. She is represented by Attorney Kevin Reddington. The Commonwealth is represented by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague and Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham.
THE COURT: All right. Well, good morning, everybody.
JURORS: Good morning.
THE COURT: Nice to see everybody again. Thank you for being here. What I'm gonna do is ask you those questions again, and then talk a little bit about today's schedule, and then we'll get right back into the Commonwealth's presentation of the evidence. And so the first question, as you probably know by now, is, has any member of the jury read, seen, heard, or overheard anything from any source about any aspect of this case that would affect your ability to be fair and impartial as a juror?
JURORS: No.
THE COURT: All right. Last question is, is there any other serious matter of concern bearing on your service as a juror in this case that anybody needs to bring to my attention at this time?
JURORS: No.
THE COURT: All right. Again, thank you for following those instructions. Today's schedule is we have a number of witnesses, so we're gonna start as soon as I'm done talking, and then we'll get right back into the Commonwealth's case. We'll take a break mid-morning, and then we'll continue till 1:00, and then I anticipate that we'll go somewhat into the afternoon, but we'll just kinda have to see what the evidence is, if any other issues come up that I have to deal with that doesn't concern you. So with that, I'm gonna turn this over at this point to the Commonwealth. Are you ready to call your next witness?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes, Your Honor. The Commonwealth calls Dr. Kimberley Springer.
MR. REDDINGTON: Just, for the record, Your Honor, we do the same objections.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Same ruling.
BAILIFF: Good morning, ma'am. Can you stand right here and raise your right hand for the court?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Good morning.
COURT CLERK: Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth—[oath administered]
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I do.
THE COURT: All right. Good morning, Doctor.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Good morning.
THE COURT: All right. Wait a second. All right. Commonwealth, could I see Counselor Sylvia for a second, for a sec?
THE COURT: All right. Does that work better for everybody? Okay. All right. All right. Commonwealth?
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you, Your Honor. Good morning. Can you please state and spell your name for the record?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. It's Kimberley Springer, K-I-M-B-E-R-L-E-Y S-P-R-I-N-G-E-R.
MS. SPRAGUE: Where do you work?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: At the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston, Massachusetts.
MS. SPRAGUE: And are you a medical examiner?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I am.
MS. SPRAGUE: How long have you done that?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Twenty years.
MS. SPRAGUE: Can you describe for us your educational background?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. Four years of college at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Four years of medical school at The Chicago Medical School in North Chicago, Illinois. Four years of residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology, which is hospital-based pathology, at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and one year of fellowship training in forensic pathology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which is where I now work.
MS. SPRAGUE: And throughout that twenty years at the Medical Examiner's Office, have you conducted autopsies?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I have.
MS. SPRAGUE: Approximately how many?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Over two thousand.
MS. SPRAGUE: And have you testified in courts in the Commonwealth about these autopsies?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I have.
MS. SPRAGUE: Can you explain to the jurors what is an autopsy?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. An autopsy is a tool by which we examine the whole body in an effort to determine cause of death. And it's comprised of two parts: an external examination, where we look for identifying characteristics such as height and weight, evidence of medical therapy, and evidence of trauma and disease. We may take evidence as appropriate. And then we turn to the internal examination, making surgical-like incisions and examining each of the internal organs, again looking for evidence of trauma and disease, and taking additional samples for other tests, such as toxicology.
MS. SPRAGUE: Now, I wanna direct your attention to January 29th, 2023. Did you perform an autopsy on Callan Patrick Clancy?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: And when you performed this autopsy, did you follow the procedure you just described where you did an external examination and then an internal examination?
MS. SPRAGUE: And can you tell us what your initial observations was, were of Callan when you started the external examination?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. So, Callan had some therapeutic procedures in place or therapeutic equipment in place, including a thermometer in the left nostril, a nasogastric tube in the right, an endotracheal tube down the throat, a Foley catheter draining urine, intravascular catheters in the right hand and right wrist, and an intravascular catheter in the left foot. There was some adhesive residue, possibly from other therapeutic procedures as well on his chest. And there were additional needle marks that I saw on his body. In general... May I... Should I keep going, or—
MS. SPRAGUE: Well, and what were your general observations?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: In general, he was... We measured him at twenty-six inches long and twenty-four pounds. He had general edema, and that... Those are the general—
MS. SPRAGUE: So when you were talking about therapeutic things, are those things that were done by a medical provider at a hospital or some such setting?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And what do you mean when you say he had general edema?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: It means that he had general... His whole body had more fluid than one would expect in a person or a eight-month-old, an eight-month-old who had not been in the hospital. It's very common for someone coming from the hospital to have had been given fluids such that they have excess fluid and swelling.
MS. SPRAGUE: Did you make observations of any injuries or trauma to Callan?
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. If we could have photo nine nine six zero.
THE COURT: Hold on. So let me just... Members of the jury, I just wanna give you, kinda revisit that instruction that I talked to you last week about. You may remember we talked about before they played that tape, all right? I just wanna remind you that sometimes evidence is presented during the trial that creates emotional reactions. And but as jurors who've taken an oath to follow the law, I'm instructing you as I did last week that you must separate any emotional reaction on your part from the informational value and the weight from the evidence. You must not be influenced in any way by the unpleasant nature of the photographs and testimony that you're going to hear this morning, or throughout the whole trial as well. So you must find the facts in this case based only on the evidence. But you can't find those facts or base those facts on sympathy, anger, passion, prejudice, or pity against either side. So I appreciate that. I just kinda wanted to remind you of that. And with that, come on.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you, Your Honor. So photo nine nine six zero.
MS. SPRAGUE: Is that on the screen, doctor?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Not yet.
MS. SPRAGUE: Yeah. Let me hand you this here.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Okay. Thank you.
MS. SPRAGUE: If you could just describe for us what we're seeing here in this photo.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: So this is a photograph of Callan at the time of autopsy. And he—I'm showing a ruler underneath his neck, where above which you can see abrasions. And you can also see some needle marks that I mentioned from therapeutic procedures on his arm.
MS. SPRAGUE: I'm sorry. If you could use the tool, pressing the top button there just to highlight the area you're talking about, the abrasions on the neck.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Right here on his right side of his neck, and then in the middle of the neck and on the left side of the neck.
MS. SPRAGUE: And if we could now have photograph six six three.
MS. SPRAGUE: If you could tell us what we're seeing here in this photograph, doctor.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: This is another photograph showing a bit more closely, again, the abrasions of the neck. There's one on the front of the neck, the one, the shorter one that's about half an inch long by one-sixteenth inch. For those more familiar with the metric system, a centimeter is—two point five centimeters is about an inch. A sixteenth of an inch is about one point five millimeters. So this is half an inch by one-sixteenth inch, and then on the right here, this is about one and a half inches by a sixteenth inch.
MS. SPRAGUE: Showing nine nine five two.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: May I go back to that for one second?
MS. SPRAGUE: Go back?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: For one-
MS. SPRAGUE: Could we go back to that photo, please? Nine nine six zero. I'm sorry, six six three.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I just want to point out, between the ruler and the abrasions, you can see a paler line. That's a normal infant neck fold. That's not a injury.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you. And nine nine five two, please. If you could just point out for us here the injuries of significance to you.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Here... Sorry. I think I did that.
MS. SPRAGUE: If we could go back to the prior photo, please.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I got it.
MS. SPRAGUE: It's the top button.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yep. Okay, so these again are the abrasions on the left side of his neck, and there's the one on the front of his neck. In addition, on the left side of his forehead is a three-sixteenth inch by one-sixteenth inch abrasion. And I think you can also begin to see petechial hemorrhages, which are dot-like hemorrhages underneath the skin on the face.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what are petechial hemorrhages?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Petechial hemorrhages occur when there is rupture of the small blood vessels underneath the skin surface. And they are from an overpressure of the small blood vessels such as capillaries or venules, and blood escapes out and makes a dot-like hemorrhage.
MS. SPRAGUE: If we could have photo nine nine five four.
MS. SPRAGUE: If you could explain for us what we're seeing in this photograph, please.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: In this photograph is Callan's right side, also showing the back of his neck. So that abrasion that could be seen in the first photo, showing the front of his neck, that abrasion continues along about three inches in all towards the right posterior or back of the neck.
MS. SPRAGUE: And if we could have photo nine nine five five, please.
MS. SPRAGUE: Is this a close-up photograph of what you just described?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. I can show that right here.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you. Could we have photo six thirty-six, please?
MS. SPRAGUE: And if you could describe for us what you see here in this photo, Doctor.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Well, first the abrasion is in poor focus, but it's in the picture on the left side of the photograph. And then the most—in the photograph one can see those petechial hemorrhages better, along the cheek, on the eyelid, all of those.
MS. SPRAGUE: If we could have photo six five four, please.
MS. SPRAGUE: Can you describe what we're seeing in this photograph, Doctor?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. This is an abrasion near the hairline on the right side of the forehead. And that is up here. That is about three-eighths by one eigh- one-eighth inch.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then photo six five six, please. Can you describe what we're seeing in this photo here, Doctor?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: This is looking at the top of Callan's head, and on the top right part of his head, toward the front near the forehead is a one-eighth by one-sixteenth inch abrasion.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then photo six five seven, please.
MS. SPRAGUE: If you can describe what we're seeing here, Doctor.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: This is a—the abrasion on the left side of his forehead with a ruler this time. In addition, the petechiae are also in pretty good focus on this.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then photograph nine nine one six.
MS. SPRAGUE: If you can describe for us what we're seeing in this photograph, please.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: So these are some of the... I forgot to mention at the very beginning. There's a intravenous catheter in the right groin. This is Callan before we took off his medical therapy, and it shows some of the needle marks that he had. So on his... This is his right lower extremity. This is a look of an intraosseous catheter attempt with a central puncture mark and a round abrasion around it. And then here's the right groin line and the left foot line.
MS. SPRAGUE: And if we could have photograph nine nine one seven. Are we seeing the same thing here on the left leg, those same IO attempt marks?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Exactly, yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you.
MS. SPRAGUE: Doctor, are you able to date the wounds to the head, the abrasions and marks on the head? Are you able to say when those got there or how long they'd been there?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: I can't precisely, but they have signs of healing in the form of scabbing.
MS. SPRAGUE: And would that indicate that they weren't fresh wounds that happened the day you saw him or the day prior?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: In terms of the marks around Callan's neck and the petechiae around his eyes and face, did that give you an indication here of the mechanism of death for Callan?
MS. SPRAGUE: And how so?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: So, it is consistent with a ligature strangulation, given that the abrasions are linear around his neck, and there are petechial hemorrhages above those lines of abrasion.
MS. SPRAGUE: And how is it that when someone is strangled with a ligature, that causes petechiae in the face and eyes?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: So, what happens is that the blood vessels that supply blood to the neck are compressed. And so there are jugular veins, which are a lower pressure system, and carotid arteries, which are a somewhat higher pressure system. And so the—as the vessels are compressed, if there is a backup of blood in the head, there can be an increased pressure in those small blood vessels that I mentioned, and they can rupture, causing the petechiae.
MS. SPRAGUE: But basically, is it similar to a balloon filling up, it—but it's not air, it's blood and pressure in the face?
MS. SPRAGUE: And so when that pressure gets too great, is it that the capillaries are basically bursting and causing those little red marks?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Yes. Most texts say capillaries, some say venules. The small blood vessels.
MS. SPRAGUE: And how is it that this process, the strangulation by ligature, causes death physically? How does that—how does it physically happen?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: So the blockage of blood either, both to and from the head or just from the head, will cause a lack of oxygen to arrive at the brain. And there can be an element of airway compression as well, such that the lungs can't oxygenate properly. And so that lack of oxygen is what causes the brain to die and the organs to fail.
MS. SPRAGUE: And based on your examination of Callan, did you come to a determination based on your training and experience, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to the cause of his death?
MS. SPRAGUE: And what was that?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Complications of mechanical asphyxia.
MS. SPRAGUE: And why is it complications of mechanical asphyxia instead of just the asphyxia itself?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Because he was resuscitated, and so his heart began to beat again. And so from the 24th to the 27th, there was a continuation of support of his organs too, in the hospital. And so if he had, he had a heart, stopped heart at the scene, and in that case, I would've just said mechanical asphyxia. But since there was a three-day hospital stay, I said complications of mechanical asphyxia.
MS. SPRAGUE: So the word complications doesn't mean that something happened at the hospital to cause his death; it's just that the strangulation caused his death, but he didn't die for a few days?
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Commonwealth would move to submit the autopsy photos as the next exhibit.
MR. REDDINGTON: Same objection.
THE COURT: Same objection. They may be admitted.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 215.
MS. SPRAGUE: Commonwealth would move to submit the death certificate of Callan Patrick Clancy as the next exhibit.
MR. REDDINGTON: No objection.
THE COURT: That may be admitted.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. I have nothing further.
THE COURT: Counsel?
MR. REDDINGTON: No, thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. You may step down, doctor.
KIMBERLEY SPRINGER: Thank you.
THE COURT: Counsel, could I see you just briefly?
THE COURT: A short break at this time. Couple of minutes. Okay.
BAILIFF: All right. Court, all rise. Jurors, you may close your notebooks and place them on your chairs.
BAILIFF: Court is in session. You may be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, we return back to the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All parties are present, including the defendant, excluding the jury.
THE COURT: All right. Counsel, are you ready for the jury?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
THE COURT: Officer Bilal, bring me the jury.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors enter.
BAILIFF: This court's now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, we return back to the trial, Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All parties are present, including the defendant and including the 18 jurors.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, everyone. So we will now return to the Commonwealth's case. Attorney Sprague.