Lindsay Clancy case: Surprising pivot sparks Nov. 2 fight
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney argued Tuesday, Sept. 29, that prosecutors never proved she killed her three children, a surprising shift from the defense he presented at her triple murder trial. Judge William Sullivan heard the motion for a required finding of not guilty in Plymouth Superior Court but took it under advisement, with the next hearing set for Nov. 2, NBC News reported.
It was the first hearing in the Lindsay Clancy case since Sullivan declared a mistrial Sept. 4. Clancy, 36, is accused of strangling Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with exercise bands at the family’s home on Jan. 24, 2023. She has not been convicted of any crime.
‘Where is the evidence?’
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pressed the renewed motion under Massachusetts’ Rule 25, which asks a judge to rule that the evidence was too thin for a reasonable jury to convict. “Where is the evidence that she did this?” he asked, according to CBS Boston. “This entire case is based on speculation. Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?”
He split the argument in two: first, that the state didn’t prove Clancy committed the killings, and second, that it didn’t prove she was criminally responsible. “You’re put in a conundrum when you have to admit culpability in order to raise a lack of criminal responsibility,” he told the judge.
Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham called the new position “laughable,” NBC News reported. “Now for the first time the defendant is arguing that there’s no evidence that she did this,” she said, adding that the record was “voluminous” in showing otherwise.
A different tune from the Lindsay Clancy trial
At trial, Reddington argued that Lindsay Clancy was in a state of postpartum psychosis and should not be held criminally responsible. In his July opening statement, he told jurors she “knows what happened to those kids.” At a June pretrial hearing, he said, “She takes responsibility,” CBS Boston reported. In an April motion seeking separate trials on guilt and mental state, a request the judge denied, he had even offered to stipulate in writing that she killed the children.
WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman called the change “really bizarre,” and analysts told the station the move may be meant to pressure prosecutors not to retry the case. Asked outside court whether he now claims Clancy didn’t kill her children, Reddington said his argument was “not new rocket science by any means.”
Why the first jury couldn’t agree
The Lindsay Clancy jury of nine women and three men deadlocked three times before the mistrial. According to NBC News, 11 jurors favored a verdict of not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, while one holdout, who has since identified himself as Michael P. Desronvil, wanted to convict.
Desronvil has denied fellow jurors’ claims that he refused to deliberate, saying in a statement that he “didn’t have any doubts” about Clancy’s guilt. In a statement to Fox News host Sean Hannity, he said, “I know the whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels.”
Reddington’s separate motion to dismiss the case, which CNN said raises double jeopardy, will be argued in November along with a defense request to further question the holdout juror. Reddington argued the judge should have removed that juror after the foreperson reported he wasn’t following instructions.
Gag request and retrial still on the table
In the Lindsay Clancy case, prosecutors have also asked the court to bar Reddington from making “extrajudicial statements to the media” before any retrial. The Boston Globe and WBZ-TV opposed the request, and Sullivan will take it up Nov. 2. The judge told both sides to come ready to discuss a new trial date then.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said no decision has been made on whether to retry Lindsay Clancy. “We’re doing a very thorough review right now,” he said outside court. Reddington told reporters any retrial likely wouldn’t happen before June because of his schedule, CNN reported.
The fight over a lone holdout echoes other high-profile juror disputes, including the juror intimidation claims in Harvey Weinstein’s case. Find more court coverage in our special interests section.