Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is now challenging whether prosecutors proved she killed her three children at all, a significant shift after her first murder trial focused primarily on whether postpartum psychosis left her criminally responsible for their deaths.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney adopted a substantially different defense Tuesday following her mistrial, arguing for the first time that prosecutors failed to prove Clancy was the person who killed her three children in their Massachusetts home in 2023.
Attorney Kevin Reddington made the argument during Clancy’s first court appearance since her initial trial ended Sept. 4 with a deadlocked jury. Eleven jurors favored finding her not criminally responsible, while one juror favored conviction.
“This entire case is based on speculation,” Reddington told Judge William Sullivan.
The argument marked a striking departure from the defense presented during Clancy’s lengthy murder trial.
Reddington did not dispute during that proceeding that Clancy caused the deaths of her children. Instead, the defense concentrated on whether she could be held criminally responsible, maintaining that the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was unable to appreciate the criminality or wrongfulness of her actions.
On Tuesday, Reddington went further and argued that the evidence itself was insufficient to prove “that this woman killed those children.”
He asked Sullivan to enter an acquittal rather than allow prosecutors another opportunity to try Clancy.
Reddington pointed to Clancy’s physical condition when she was discovered outside the family home, where she was severely injured and bleeding after falling from an upstairs window. He also emphasized her reported inability to remember what happened when she later regained consciousness in a hospital.
“Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?” Reddington asked.
During the first trial, testimony from Clancy’s now ex-husband and first responders described investigators arriving at the home after Clancy had attempted suicide. Prosecutors maintained that she had strangled the three children with exercise bands before trying multiple methods to end her own life.
Clancy survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Prosecutors contend the evidence showed that Clancy deliberately killed the children and understood that what she was doing was wrong, the critical question under Massachusetts law in determining criminal responsibility.
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham dismissed Reddington’s new argument as “laughable,” pointing to the evidence introduced during the original trial.
In court filings submitted Monday, prosecutors similarly argued that the trial record contained sufficient evidence to permit a jury to convict Clancy.
The first trial, however, did not produce a unanimous decision.
After weeks of testimony and seven days of deliberations, jurors informed Sullivan that they could not reach agreement. The panel ultimately stood 11-1, with 11 jurors prepared to find Clancy not criminally responsible and one juror unwilling to join them.
Sullivan declared a mistrial Sept. 4.
The defense theory throughout that proceeding was that Clancy had been experiencing severe mental illness after childbirth, including what her lawyers described as postpartum psychosis.
Postpartum psychosis is a rare psychiatric emergency that can occur after childbirth and can involve hallucinations, delusions, confusion, severe mood disturbances and impaired judgment.
The defense argued that Clancy’s psychiatric condition prevented her from being criminally responsible for the deaths.
Prosecutors presented a sharply different account, contending that Clancy planned the killings, understood her actions and knew they were wrong.
Tuesday’s hearing changed the legal focus.
Rather than relying solely on Clancy’s mental state to argue that she should not be convicted, Reddington challenged whether the prosecution had established the underlying act beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sullivan did not immediately rule on the request for acquittal.
The judge also did not schedule another trial.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said following the hearing that prosecutors have not decided how they will proceed.
They could retry Clancy on the existing first-degree murder charges, pursue lesser charges such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, or decide not to retry the case.
“We are going to do what we can for the children,” Cruz told reporters outside the courthouse. “That is what this case is about.”
The defense is separately asking Sullivan to dismiss the prosecution on grounds related to the handling of the first jury.
Clancy’s attorneys have focused particularly on Michael Desronvil, the lone juror who did not support a verdict finding Clancy not criminally responsible.
During deliberations, the jury foreperson complained that the holdout juror was not properly following the court’s instructions concerning reasonable doubt.
The defense asked Sullivan to remove the juror before the mistrial was declared, but the judge declined.
Reddington’s team now wants the court to examine several issues involving Desronvil, including whether he answered a pretrial juror questionnaire truthfully and whether his answers remained accurate when Sullivan questioned jurors one day before the mistrial.
The defense has also raised questions about whether Desronvil violated court rules by using a cellphone during jury deliberations.
Desronvil has defended his conduct and his conclusion in the case.
Through his attorney, he has said he had no doubts about his position after considering the prosecution’s evidence.
In a brief video statement aired Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Desronvil attempted to shift attention away from the controversy surrounding his role in the mistrial.
“The whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels,” he said, referring to the children.
The defense argues that circumstances surrounding the jury’s deliberations warrant further investigation and could provide grounds for preventing another prosecution.
Prosecutors oppose that effort and maintain that the mistrial resulted from a genuinely deadlocked jury, which ordinarily permits the government to retry a defendant without violating constitutional protections against double jeopardy.
The case has drawn intense national attention since Clancy was charged following the January 2023 deaths.
Public interest grew substantially during the livestreamed trial as psychiatrists, medical professionals, family members and other witnesses testified about Clancy’s psychiatric history, medications and behavior before and after the children died.
The proceeding also brought increased attention to postpartum mental illness and the legal distinction between suffering from a psychiatric disorder and meeting the much narrower standard required to establish a lack of criminal responsibility.
About a dozen people supporting Clancy gathered outside the courthouse Tuesday, with many wearing pink as they waited for her arrival.
Clancy remains charged with murder and is expected to remain at a psychiatric hospital while the criminal proceedings continue.
If she were ultimately convicted of first-degree murder, she could face life imprisonment.
An acquittal based on lack of criminal responsibility would not necessarily mean immediate freedom. The court could order her committed to a psychiatric facility if she were determined to remain mentally ill and dangerous.
An outright acquittal based on insufficient evidence — the result Reddington is now seeking — would present a fundamentally different outcome.
That is what makes Tuesday’s argument significant.
During the first trial, the defense’s central position was that Clancy caused the children’s deaths but should not be held criminally responsible because of her mental condition.
Following an 11-1 mistrial, Reddington is now asking Sullivan to consider an earlier and more basic question in the prosecution’s case: whether the evidence legally established that Clancy killed the children in the first place.
Sullivan has yet to answer that question, and prosecutors have yet to determine whether they will ask another jury to decide the case.
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