Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer seeks acquittal to block retrial for killing her kids
Lindsay Clancy's attorney files motion to bar retrial
Attorney Jacqueline Goodman joins LiveNOW's Shawna Khalafi to discuss the next steps Lindsay Clancy's defense team is seeking after her mistrial.
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer has asked a judge to find the Massachusetts mom not guilty of killing her three young kids, arguing that she shouldn’t be tried for murder a second time because prosecutors don’t have enough evidence.
Attorney Kevin Reddington’s motion comes one week after a deadlocked jury forced the judge to declare a mistrial in Clancy’s case. Eleven of the 12 jurors were ready to acquit her.
What is Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer asking for?
What they're saying:
In the motion filed Thursday, Reddington said Clancy should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, which would prevent a second trial.
RELATED: Members of the Lindsay Clancy jury open up on the holdout juror
Kevin Reddington, defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy, and Lindsay Clancy look on after the jury remained deadlocked and the judge indicated he will declare a mistrial, during Clancy's murder trial at the Plymouth County Superior Court in Plymouth, M
Reddington has never disputed that Clancy strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy in the family’s home in 2023 before trying to end her own life. But he has argued that she was a loving mother in the grip of a rare condition called postpartum psychosis.
Reddington said none of the psychiatric experts, either called by the prosecution or defense, disputed that Clancy was suffering from a mental illness.
"The testimony bears on which illness she had, not on whether she had one," he wrote in his motion.
Under Massachusetts law, prosecutors had to prove either that Clancy did not have a mental disease or defect or that, despite having one, she retained the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions or conform her conduct to the law.
Reddington argued in Thursday’s court filing that prosecutors proved neither.
What's next after mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case?
LiveNOW from FOX's Carel Lajara and criminal defense attorney Eric Faddis discuss what's next after a judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder case.
The other side:
Prosecutors claimed she knew what she was doing. They pointed to Clancy’s actions in the weeks, days and hours leading up to the killings — driving, planning a child’s birthday party, bringing her daughter to a doctor’s appointment — and her ability to perform other everyday tasks as evidence she was of sound mind when the killings took place.
What's next:
It’s not clear what’s next for Clancy’s case. Prosecutors have yet to say whether they’ll seek to put the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse on trial again. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz did not respond to The Associated Press’s request for comment.
The Source: This article includes information from The Associated Press and previous FOX Local reporting.