Lindsay Clancy's Lawyer Now Unsure If She Killed Her Children

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy's lawyer argued Tuesday that prosecutors have not presented enough evidence to prove she killed her three children, a significant shift from the defense's approach during a first trial that ended with a deadlocked jury.

Attorney Kevin Reddington asked Judge William Sullivan to acquit Clancy, arguing that the case was based on speculation and that there was no direct admission that she killed the children.

“This entire case is based on speculation,” Reddington said during the hearing, the first since the trial ended Sept. 4.

During the first trial, Reddington did not dispute that Clancy killed the children at the family's home in 2023. Instead, he argued that she was not criminally responsible because she was suffering from a severe mental illness known as postpartum psychosis.

On Tuesday, however, Reddington questioned whether the evidence established that Clancy was responsible for the children's deaths. He pointed to her condition when she was found badly injured and bleeding outside the home and to her reported lack of memory of the events after she awoke in a hospital.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called Reddington's argument “laughable” and pointed to evidence presented during the trial. Prosecutors have maintained that Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, strangled the children with exercise bands before using multiple methods in an attempt to kill herself. They have argued that she knew her actions were wrong.

Clancy remains paralyzed from the waist down and is being held at a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors have not decided whether to retry Clancy, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said after Tuesday's hearing. They could pursue the first-degree murder charges again, seek lesser charges such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, or drop the case.

“We are going to do what we can for the children,” Cruz told reporters outside court.

Neither side wanted to set a new trial date Tuesday. Sullivan agreed to postpone that decision until a hearing scheduled for Nov. 2.

Clancy's attorneys have also asked the judge to dismiss the case based in part on allegations involving a juror from the first trial. The defense has argued that Sullivan should have removed the juror, Michael Desronvil, after the jury foreperson complained that he was unwilling to follow the law on reasonable doubt.

Desronvil has denied having doubts about his position and has defended his conduct through his lawyer. In a statement Monday on Fox News' “Hannity,” he said the focus should be on the three children.

The defense has separately asked the judge to investigate whether Desronvil was truthful on a pretrial questionnaire, during questioning by the judge before the trial ended and about whether he used a cellphone during jury deliberations.

The first trial drew widespread public attention and renewed discussion of maternal mental health after childbirth. About a dozen Clancy supporters, many wearing pink, gathered outside the courthouse Tuesday.

Clancy could face life in prison if convicted of murder. If she is acquitted, the judge could order her confined to a mental health facility.