Judge rejects Lindsay Clancy’s bid for acquittal after mistrial

A judge has refused to acquit Lindsay Clancy of murder in the 2023 deaths of her three children, ruling that prosecutors presented enough evidence for a jury to decide the case despite a mistrial last month.

Judge William Sullivan denied a motion from Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, seeking a required finding of not guilty. In his Thursday ruling, Sullivan said the evidence was sufficient to allow a jury to determine whether Clancy was responsible for the killings.

“There was evidence introduced, both physical and circumstantial, that would permit a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of the charge of murder,” Sullivan wrote.

The first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. The Guardian reported that jurors were split 11-1 in favor of acquitting Clancy of murder charges.

Reddington argued that prosecutors had not proved Clancy killed the children. Prosecutors called that argument “laughable,” according to The Guardian. It marked a shift from the defense’s position at trial: Reddington did not dispute then that Clancy had killed the children at the family home. Instead, the defense argued that she was not criminally responsible because she had a mental disease, which it identified as postpartum psychosis.

In seeking an acquittal after the mistrial, Reddington also argued that an insufficient police investigation left prosecutors unable to establish that Clancy was the person who strangled the children, CBS News reported. Sullivan rejected that argument. His order noted that Clancy was the only person at home when the children were killed, according to CBS News. GPS data and surveillance footage showed that Patrick Clancy, her then-husband and the children’s father, was away from the house, the outlet reported.

Reddington further argued that prosecutors had not proved Clancy could appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions or that she was not suffering from a mental illness at the time. Sullivan said competing testimony from psychological experts made her criminal responsibility a question for a jury.

“The Court finds that the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth and with the reasonable inferences permitted to be drawn, was sufficient to have satisfied any rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt as to the essential element of the defendant’s criminal responsibility,” Sullivan wrote.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, had mental health problems, including months of treatment and a stay in a psychiatric hospital. They argued that she knew what she was doing when she strangled the children and then tried to kill herself, The Guardian reported.

Reddington had sought a required finding of not guilty at several points during the trial, including after prosecutors and the defense rested. Sullivan denied those requests, and Reddington renewed the motion after the mistrial, CBS News reported.

The defense has also asked the court to investigate the lone holdout juror’s conduct during deliberations and to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds before a possible retrial, according to CBS News. The next hearing is set for Nov. 2.