What happens next in the case against Lindsay Clancy? Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz is weighing whether to again pursue first-degree murder charges or take a different approach following the mistrial in the deaths of Clancy’s three young children. The jury ended 11-1 in favor of finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.
At the same time, prosecutors are preparing for another potential retrial involving Latarsha Sanders, whose first-degree murder convictions in the deaths of her two children were overturned by Massachusetts’ highest court. The DA’s office says it intends to retry Sanders but is awaiting an evaluation and report from forensic psychiatrist Fabian Saleh.
Boston 25 News’ Bob Ward examines the difficult legal decisions ahead and why the two cases could become intertwined.
The cases of two Massachusetts mothers accused
of killing their own children share
many similarities. Lindsey Clancy on the left there, her case there.
Latasha Sanders is on the right of your screen.
Both prosecuted in Plymouth County
with the same judge presiding.
Boston 25's Bob Ward covering both cases.
Both Lindsey Clancy and LaTarsha Sanders claim their mental illnesses
made them not criminally responsible for the deaths of their children.
And for different reasons,
it appears both cases could be headed for new trials.
Now, the same DA's office is handling both cases,
and we're waiting for decisions on how these cases will move forward.
In the Lindsay Clancy case, all eyes are on DA Timothy Cruz as we wait
to hear if he will again try Clancy for first-degree murder
for the strangulation deaths of her three young children,
or if he'll seek a lesser charge in a new trial.
On Monday, I asked the DA about it.
What are some of the things you've got to think about before
you come up with a decision on what you're going to do?
I think there's lots of things in every case, and you have
to make sure you go through them, be thorough, and talk to people.
Look where you currently stand with the
cases, and that's what we're going to do.
At the same time, the DA is also weighing its legal options
in another similar case, Latarsha Sanders.
In 2022, Sanders was actually convicted of first-degree murder
for the 2018 stabbing deaths of her two young children in Brockton.
But in August, as the Clancy trial was underway,
the state's highest court ordered a new trial,
finding the trial judge did not allow the Sanders jury
to hear post-arrest evidence of her mental health issues.
Judge William Sullivan was the trial judge for both Sanders and Clancy.
Boston criminal defense attorney Elise Hirschhorn expects the DA will
seek first-degree murder convictions against both Sanders and Clancy.
I do not expect him to treat Sanders and Clancy differently, but I
also expect him to treat all the first-degree murder cases similarly
in terms of if he can go forward with first-degree, that he will.
But can prosecutors get unanimous first-degree murder verdicts
in both of these cases?
The Clancy trial ended 11-1 in favor
of not guilty by reason of insanity.
They're adjacent to each other at this point.
The timing of it, that they're both mothers,
similarly aged, same county, same judge.
How do you keep one away from the other?
Strong feelings about Clancy could be brought
into Sanders' case and vice versa.
In a statement to Boston 25 News, the Plymouth County
DA's office tells us that in the Sanders case they've hired a forensic
psychiatrist as an expert to evaluate and to review the case.
The statement says the DA intends to retry Latarsha Sanders,
but the office is waiting for the results of that report.
And in Clancy, we are first waiting for Judge William Sullivan
to rule on a defense motion to drop the charges.
I'm Bob Ward for your local station, Boston 25 News.
