Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer raises questions over evidence in children’s deaths

Lindsay Clancy‘s lawyer argued Tuesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove she killed her three children, a striking turn after a lengthy trial that focused more on her mental state than on whether she took their lives.

“This entire case is based on speculation,” her lawyer Kevin Reddington said during the first hearing since Clancy’s initial trial ended Sept. 4 with a deadlocked jury.

Story continues below advertisement

During the trial, he didn’t dispute that Clancy killed the children at the family’s home in 2023, instead seeking to persuade a jury to find her not criminally responsible because of mental disease — a rare condition called postpartum psychosis, according to the defence.

But on Tuesday, in the wake of a mistrial with the jury split 11 to 1 in Clancy’s favour, Reddington sought to persuade Judge William Sullivan to acquit her.

There is, Reddington contended, not enough evidence “that this woman killed those children.” He pointed to matters ranging from her condition when she was found, badly injured and bleeding, in the yard outside her home to her lack of memory of what happened when she woke up in a hospital. At the first trial, her now ex-husband and first responders testified that she tried to kill herself immediately after killing the children.

“Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?” Reddington asked, going on to recap his arguments that she also was psychotic and delusional at the time of the children’s deaths.

Story continues below advertisement

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called his argument “laughable,” pointing to various evidence raised during the trial. In court papers filed Monday, prosecutors recapped their arguments that there was enough evidence to convict Clancy.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.

The prosecution maintains that Clancy, a 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse, killed the children then used multiple methods to try to end her life, and that she knew what she was doing was wrong. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.

The judge didn’t immediately decide, and no trial date was set.

Clancy’s lawyers also have asked the judge to dismiss the criminal case. Among other things, they have argued that the judge should have ousted the one juror who favoured a murder conviction after the jury foreperson complained he was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.

The juror, Michael Desronvil, has said through his lawyer that he had no doubts about his stance. Desronvil told Fox News’ “Hannity” in a brief video statement on Monday that “the whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels,” meaning the children.

The defence has also asked the judge to investigate the juror’s truthfulness on a questionnaire that prospective jurors filled out before the trial began, his truthfulness when jurors were questioned by the judge a day before the trial ended and also whether he broke court rules by using a cellphone during deliberations.

Story continues below advertisement

Tuesday’s hearing could also reveal whether prosecutors will move to put Clancy on trial for a second time. Prosecutors can choose to retry her on first-degree murder charges or seek to try her only on lesser charges, including second-degree murder or manslaughter, or drop the case entirely.

After the mistrial was declared, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told reporters his goal was always “getting justice for those three little babies.”

Prosecutors said Clancy acted deliberately when she strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy with exercise bands. They said she contrived to get her husband out of the house on Jan. 24, 2023, by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

The livestreamed trial generated intense public interest and drew attention to maternal mental health after childbirth. About a dozen Clancy supporters, most dressed in pink, stood outside court Tuesday waiting for her to arrive.

Clancy remains charged with murder and is expected to stay at a psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved.

She has been paralyzed from the waist down since jumping from a second-story window after strangling her children.

Clancy could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted of murder. If acquitted, the judge could have ordered her confined to a mental health facility.