Judge denies Lindsay Clancy's defence motion for not-guilty finding

PLYMOUTH, Massachusetts — A judge has refused to declare Lindsay Clancy not guilty of murdering her three children, rejecting a defence motion that argued prosecutors had failed to prove she was responsible for the killings.

Judge William Sullivan of Plymouth Superior Court ruled on Thursday 1 October that the prosecution had provided adequate evidence for a jury to decide whether Clancy killed the children. “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,” he wrote.

The ruling followed a hearing on Tuesday 29 September at which Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, argued that prosecutors had offered no proof she had killed her three children. Prosecutors rejected that claim as “laughable”.

During the trial, the defence did not dispute that Clancy, a 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse, had killed the children at the family home in 2023. Instead it argued she was not criminally responsible because of a mental disease — postpartum psychosis.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Clancy had mental health problems, including months of treatment and a stay in a psychiatric hospital, but argued she knew what she was doing when she strangled the children and then tried to take her own life.

Her first trial ended in a mistrial on 4 September after the jury deadlocked, split 11 to 1 in favour of acquittal. Spokespeople for Reddington and Plymouth County district attorney Timothy Cruz had no comment on the ruling.