Lindsay Clancy's attorney says there's no evidence she killed her children in 1st hearing since mistrial
Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman charged with killing her three young children, returned to court Tuesday morning for a hearing that ended without a new trial date.
Both prosecutors and Clancy’s defense lawyer, appearing in court together for the first time since a mistrial was declared on Sept. 4, asked Judge William Sullivan to hold off on scheduling a new trial date until some of the motions to throw out the case are resolved.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told reporters outside court Tuesday that his office is still evaluating whether to retry Clancy, broadly saying a decision would be made “as soon as we get all the information that we can.”
“We're doing a very thorough review right now, and we're going to continue to do our job to make sure that we do what's best for the interests of justice and the interests of those three children,” he said.
Clancy pleaded not guilty to three murder charges for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan, who were strangled at the family's home in Duxbury, a Boston suburb, on Jan. 24, 2023.
The former nurse attempted suicide on the night of her children's deaths, leaving her paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
While Clancy did not contest that she killed her children during the trial, her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, said Tuesday that the case should be thrown out because prosecutors failed to prove she was responsible for her children’s deaths.
During Clancy's five-week trial, Reddington argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis -- considered a psychiatric emergency, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists -- and was overmedicated when she strangled her children and attempted to take her own life.
Prosecutors argued that Clancy was criminally responsible for her children's deaths and was capable of understanding the severity of her actions.
“This entire case is based on speculation,” Reddington said in court Tuesday. “There is no evidence that she admitted she did this.”
Reddington highlighted what he described as flaws in law enforcement’s “horrific, ridiculous investigation” of the children’s deaths.
“Where is the evidence that she did this?” Reddington argued.
Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham pushed back on what she described as the defense’s “laughable argument” that there’s no evidence Clancy killed her children.
“For the first time, the defendant is arguing that there's no evidence that she did this. I suggest to you that the entire record is voluminous as to the information supporting the fact that she did this,” Buckingham said in court. “The fact that ... defense counsel wants to argue that she was psychotic is an argument, and he can make it. But that doesn't mean that the Commonwealth hasn't proved otherwise with evidence of the defendant's conduct."
Buckingham and fellow Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague have asked for a gag order in the case moving forward, arguing that it is necessary to “prevent the carnival atmosphere” witnessed during the trial.
Sullivan ended Tuesday's hearing by setting the next hearing date for Nov. 2, at which time he said arguments will be addressed on the request for a gag order as well as the defense's motion to dismiss and its push for a juror inquiry.
Some of the jurors who spoke out after the verdict alleged they deadlocked after one juror, who later identified himself as Michael Desronvil, refused to follow the court’s instruction about reasonable doubt.
Desronvil’s attorney has argued that he had “no doubts” about the case and criticized a defense motion earlier this month urging Sullivan to probe whether his client was honest with the court during jury selection and deliberations.
"Kevin Reddington's disgusting motion to investigate Michael is worthy of nothing but universal condemnation. This is certainly not the final word from us on this subject, but merely our first words," Desronvil's attorney, Edward Andrew Paltzik, wrote in a Sept. 22 statement.
On Monday, Desronvil again spoke out, saying he wants to "put the focus" on Clancy's three children.
“Hi, my name is Michael Peguy Desronvil, also known as the lone juror,” he said in a recorded video statement shown on Fox News. “I know the whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels ... the ones that can't speak for themselves, the ones that can't defend themselves, and the one that can't fight the battles."
