Lindsay Clancy acquittal bid denied in child murder case

A Massachusetts judge has rejected Lindsay Clancy's request for an acquittal after a jury failed to reach a verdict in her trial over the killing of her three children.

Judge William Sullivan of the Plymouth court near Boston ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence for a juror to find Clancy guilty. He has not yet decided whether she will face a retrial.

Clancy, 36, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. During the trial, she did not deny strangling Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, but argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and should not be held criminally responsible.

Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had asked the judge to enter a not-guilty verdict after the mistrial. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague opposed the request and rejected the claim that evidence was insufficient.

In September, a jury of nine women and three men was unable to reach the unanimous decision required in US criminal proceedings. Eleven jurors were in favor of finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity, while one juror opposed that outcome.

The children were killed at the family home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. Clancy is being held at a psychiatric institution and is paralysed from the waist down after injuries sustained after the killings.