Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer warned she could not emotionally survive a second trial as jurors headed home after a fourth day of deadlocked deliberations.
Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney for Clancy, spoke to reporters outside the Massachusetts courthouse and painted a bleak picture of his client’s mental state during the prolonged decision-making. “She had a flat affect, she’s sad,” Reddington said, describing Clancy’s demeanor throughout the deliberations. The jury is expected to return for a fifth day of work on the case.
Reddington was blunt when asked whether Clancy could handle the trauma of going through another trial. “No,” he said, shutting down any notion that she possessed the emotional resilience for a retrial.
The possibility of a hung jury emerged when jurors indicated they were deadlocked during morning proceedings. The judge responded by instructing them to continue deliberating rather than declaring a mistrial at that point.
Reddington expressed patience with the process, noting that the decision-making “could be a while,” He added, “As long as they are willing to keep working.”
The attorney also floated a potential path to a less grueling proceeding if prosecutors were willing to reduce the charges. Reddington said that if Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz lowered the charges from first-degree to second-degree murder, Clancy could opt for a bench trial instead of facing another jury. Bench trials typically move faster and carry less spectacle than jury proceedings.
Reddington deflected questions about why the case was being tried as a triple first-degree homicide, directing reporters toward the prosecution. “You should asked Mr. Cruz why we are trying on triple homicide first degree, not me,” he said.
Clancy faces charges in the deaths of her three young children in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. Prosecutors allege she strangled her five-year-old daughter Cora, her three-year-old son Dawson, and her eight-month-old son Callan before attempting to take her own life by jumping from a window. Her husband Patrick discovered the children and called 911; Clancy survived her injuries but was left paralyzed from the waist down. The defense has argued she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and overmedication at the time.
The jury is scheduled to resume deliberations.