Lindsay Clancy murder case: District Attorney speaks out after judge declares mistrial

Today with Assistant D.A. Shannon Buckingham and Assistant D.A. Jen Sprague. I'm going to have a statement for you, and then I will answer some questions after. I do know that one of the questions that are out here right now regarding retrials, I will let you know that there will be no decisions made today regarding that. I'm going to be meeting with our team, and we will address this case further at the appropriate time in the context of an official court proceeding. So you will not get an answer on that question today. Today, however, I want to just say I appreciate the hard work of the jury in this case. The jury obviously worked incredibly hard, stayed with that case for six and a half days, and that truly is people who understand the word of service as to what they did for our community, and I am grateful for that, as we all should be. But in the end, I understand that this has been an emotional trial for everybody. It's emotional for the Duxbury community. It's even emotional for you members of the media. But in the end, I bring it all back to the child victims in this case, Cora, Dawson, and Callan. This was and has always been about getting justice for those three little babies. We're here at this courthouse today because those children are not. One of our many roles as prosecutors is seeking justice and giving voice to those who are tragically taken from us. And one of our parts in this proceeding is to speak for the victims who are no longer here, and that is one of our most important functions. Our priority has always been to fight for Cora, for Dawson, and for Callan. The noise in this case may be louder than it is for other prosecutions in our county, but we have treated it the same as any other case. Children were murdered, and it's our job to seek justice. I appreciate the fact that there are strong feelings and opinions tied to this case. However, our job is to set aside our feelings and focus solely on the facts. The facts are Lindsay Clancy killed her three children, and the evidence suggested to us that she was in control of her actions when she committed those homicides. Our court system is built to weigh our views with those of the defense counsel and bear out whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty. We did our part, and I'm proud of the part of the work we did in this prosecution, because this case is not about a health care system or about how women are treated in it or what diagnoses there are in the DSM or what there are not. Those are all important issues. They stir up emotion, and sometimes they stir up anger. This case, however, was about Lindsay Clancy and what she did on January 24, 2023, and the cruel and calculated killing of three innocents. I understand that postpartum depression has impacted the lives of countless women and their families, and I sympathize with their struggles. The investigation of these heinous killings, however, did not establish that they were caused by such depression, and based upon that assessment, it was determined that the charges of first-degree murder were warranted and appropriate in these circumstances. Notwithstanding the undeniably important and delicate issues raised in this case, we proceed accordingly and consistent with the evidence and the law. I have led the Plymouth DA's office for a long time now, and I have never been swayed to act a certain way or make certain decisions based upon public sentiment. In this job, it is the facts ultimately decide how you act, not the opinions of observers several steps removed from our court proceedings. I would like to thank our prosecutors, Jen Sprague and Shannon Buckingham, who are both mothers themselves, and went home to their families after each long day in court. They embraced the most difficult trial assignment with utmost professionalism and always with the thoughts of Cora, Dawson, and Little Callen on their minds. I'm proud of the work of our victim witness advocates who worked long and hard, Karen and Kelsey, and they lived and breathed this case from the very beginning. Unfortunately, the way they were vilified and portrayed on social media is disgusting to me. Threats to them and their families, their addresses being docked, being posted. It's unfortunate that in today's society, potentially people placed at risk who are merely doing their jobs as prosecutors, professional women for the Commonwealth. And once again, I am proud of their professionalism under these very stressful and difficult times. I commend the Massachusetts State Police and the Duxbury Police and Fire. From the moment that 911 call, they performed a thorough and complete investigation, and this was probably one of the most difficult crime scenes any of them has been to. And yet they did their jobs with professionalism and integrity. This is a case about three children who died a violent and horrific death at the hands of the person who showed them the most. This isn't rumor or speculation. This isn't guesswork. You know, speaking generally, we live in a great country, and we have the best criminal justice system in the world, if you ask me. And that's what you've started today. You've started over the course of the last few weeks. Prosecutors in defense, dealing in court, and ultimately having individuals make their determinations, jurors making their determinations. And the defendants that are charged with crimes in our country have an awful lot of rights. And you know what? They should. They should have the rights that are set forth in our United States Constitution, and here in Massachusetts, our mass declaration of rights. They should have those. But also speaking in the world that we live today, and all too often, criminals are being treated as victims, and the real victims are invisible. It is our job to make sure that the victims are not invisible, to make sure that they're not forgotten, and to make sure that we stand for them in the way that we seek justice. And that's what I think we've done in this case. As I said, this day of this trial has been really emotional for everybody. I am a father and a grandfather, and I cannot imagine the hell this entire family has lived through. I remind myself that this is and has been and always will be about getting justice and making sure that we do not forget Cora Dawson, a little cat. Now, having said that, I'll answer questions if I can. One at a time, please. Sir, you mentioned your passion for the victims. Do you think a new jury would make a difference? It's your decision whether there'll be another trial. You get to make that decision. Why aren't you saying right now that you will retrial? You only cared when the kids were dead. Why don't you care about the mother? You only cared when they were dead. Can't you make that decision right now? Listen, I told you my decision on that already. I'll be making that decision shortly. You're prosecutors who have been working on this case, I assume, for three and a half years. Do either of you want to say anything about the experience of trying this case, especially with families at home? I think that we're going to just stand this, and I'll just speak for them at this point. Like you said, it has been a long and difficult few weeks. DA Cruz, I have a question for you. If this goes to a potential retrial, what do you expect to do? I can't hear you. Sorry. If this goes to a retrial, potentially, what do you expect to do in terms of finding an impartial jury given the current media coverage and social media? We'll do what we always do. We will go through the court system, and we will do what we have as a preemptory. I'm not going to stand out here and listen to this. DA Cruz, you had 11 jurors that didn't necessarily believe your case. What do you say to those people who felt that the whole prosecution was insensitive? Was what? Insensitive. Insensitive? Insensitive. Insensitive is killing three children. Insensitive is ignoring those facts. We have an obligation to stand up for those people and seek justice and make sure the defendant gets justice and make sure they get justice. So if people can't understand that, I don't know how I can answer that question. DA, do you feel like you might have to move courthouses? Move courthouses? I don't know. I guess it's a short answer. I think this is pretty fire and renounce, so I'm not sure where we could go. DA, if you couldn't prove the case to those 11 jurors, what would a new jury, how could that make the difference? If you couldn't prove the case to these 11 jurors who apparently did not believe that you proved the case, how could you prove it to others? We don't know what they believe and what they didn't believe. Our job is to assess the facts and apply them to the law and make sure that we can come up with what we can go for in a good-faith fashion. And I think that we owe that to the people in our county and our community. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, everybody. There's one last question that he is taking. Let's listen in. Do you have any comment on that, on any of those rumors? Are you here to set anything straight? I said they've done a good investigation, and I don't go online and read those stories. I'm not here to dispute anything with the defense. I'm not here to talk about the defense. I'm here to talk about what's important in this case and what should be important to all of us, and that's those three kids. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.