Lindsay Clancy’s attorney asked a Massachusetts judge Thursday to find her not guilty by reason of insanity and prevent a second trial after the first jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding her not criminally responsible for killing her three children.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney asked a Massachusetts judge Thursday to acquit the 36-year-old mother by reason of insanity rather than subject her to a second trial in the deaths of her three young children, arguing that prosecutors failed to establish criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.
The request comes less than a week after Clancy’s first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Eleven of the 12 jurors were prepared to find Clancy not criminally responsible for the killings, but the remaining disagreement prevented a verdict and left the case unresolved.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion asking Judge William Sullivan, who presided over the trial, to enter a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a ruling would prevent prosecutors from trying Clancy again.
Prosecutors have not publicly said whether they intend to pursue a second trial. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz did not respond Thursday to a phone message seeking comment.
There was no dispute at trial that Clancy strangled her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — inside the family’s home in 2023 before attempting to take her own life.
The central question was whether Clancy was legally responsible for her actions.
Her defense maintained that the former labor and delivery nurse had been a loving mother who was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare and severe psychiatric condition that can occur following childbirth. Prosecutors argued that despite her mental-health problems, Clancy understood what she was doing and remained capable of recognizing that her actions were wrong.
Under Massachusetts law, once criminal responsibility is at issue, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt either that the defendant did not suffer from a mental disease or defect or that, despite such a condition, the defendant retained substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct or conform her behavior to the requirements of the law.
Reddington argued in Thursday’s filing that the prosecution failed on both grounds.
He noted that none of the psychiatric experts who testified for either side disputed that Clancy suffered from mental illness.
“The testimony bears on which illness she had, not on whether she had one,” Reddington wrote.
The defense has asked Sullivan to consider the motion during a court conference scheduled for Sept. 29.
At trial, prosecutors focused heavily on Clancy’s conduct in the weeks and days before the children were killed. They pointed to her ability to drive, organize a child’s birthday celebration, take her daughter to a medical appointment and carry out other routine responsibilities as evidence that she remained capable of purposeful and rational behavior.
Reddington rejected that reasoning in his motion.
“Competence at routine tasks,” he wrote, “during a crisis which every witness agreed was acute, is not proof of criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The case drew widespread attention during the weeks-long trial, particularly because of its focus on postpartum mental health and the legal standard used to determine criminal responsibility when severe psychiatric illness is involved.
Jurors heard highly emotional testimony and evidence describing the deaths of the three children, including the 911 call made by their father after discovering them and medical testimony detailing how they died.
Clancy became visibly emotional several times during the proceedings. During the presentation of autopsy photographs, her sobbing became loud enough that Sullivan briefly halted the trial.
The judge later acknowledged during jury deliberations that the proceedings had been emotionally and physically exhausting for everyone involved.
Clancy survived after jumping from the second story of the family home following the killings. She remains paralyzed from the waist down and is expected to remain at a psychiatric hospital while the criminal case continues.
Thursday’s motion now puts the next major decision before Sullivan. The judge must determine whether the evidence presented during the first trial permits him to enter a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or whether prosecutors should retain the opportunity to bring Clancy before another jury.
With the Sept. 29 court conference approaching and prosecutors yet to announce whether they will seek another trial, the case remains unresolved nearly four years after the deaths of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy.
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