Judge Weighs Dismissing Charges Against Lindsay Clancy After Defense Calls Evidence "Total And Complete" Lacking

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — At a court hearing this week, the defense for Lindsay Clancy urged a judge to dismiss murder charges accusing her of killing her three young children, sharply criticizing both the prosecution's case and the police investigation that produced it.

Clancy, 36, was tried for two months on charges related to the Jan. 24, 2023 deaths of her children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — who were found strangled in the family's basement. After more than a week of deliberations, jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors have indicated they plan to retry the case.

At the Sept. 29, 2026 hearing, defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that his client's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity created a difficult legal position in which he effectively had to concede the deaths to pursue a lack-of-criminal-responsibility defense. Reddington told the court that the Commonwealth's case suffered from a "total and complete lack of evidence" and urged the judge to enter a required finding of not guilty.

"You are put in a conundrum where you have to, in effect, admit culpability to raise the lack of criminal responsibility. Many, many laypeople have difficulty understanding the concept," Reddington said. "I submit to the court that a motion for a required finding of not guilty should have been entered on the total and complete lack of evidence."

Reddington highlighted perceived gaps in the investigation and forensic evidence, pointing to problematic DNA and fingerprint results, questions about exercise bands recovered at the scene, and what he called a virtually nonexistent police investigation.

Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy sit together in a chair. (Court evidence)

"When you consider the evidence that the government has, you have the exercise bands, you have the woefully deficient DNA, you have the woefully deficient fingerprinting. You have the horrific, ridiculous investigation — using the term loosely — by police. There was no investigation," he said.

Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham strongly disputed the defense's characterization, saying the Commonwealth presented a voluminous record demonstrating Clancy's state of mind and intent. Buckingham said the prosecution's theory focused not on whether Clancy was an unhappy parent but on evidence that she reached a crisis point, intended to end her life, and chose to take the children with her rather than leave them to suffer.

"The Commonwealth presented evidence ... that she had succumbed to the idea that she didn't want to be here anymore and that she was going to commit suicide and that she was going to take the kids with her because no one could care for them like she could," Buckingham said.

Reddington also accused prosecutors of shifting theories during trial, particularly about Clancy's self-inflicted injuries after the children's deaths — when she cut herself and jumped from a window. He said the prosecution initially suggested she was "sick of being a mother" but later emphasized a suicide attempt.

Judge William Sullivan said he would take the defense motion under advisement and could still dismiss the charges. He pressed both sides to set a potential retrial date but neither agreed. Sullivan ordered the parties to return on Nov. 2 for additional motions, including arguments related to the lone holdout juror from the first trial, and instructed the attorneys to be prepared to set a new trial date then.

Sullivan: "I don't want this thing to just start to get kicked down the road and punted."
Reddington: "It's not going to get punted, but I'll tell you right now I can't do a trial before June. I'm just letting you know that right now."

Prosecutors have indicated they intend to retry the case, while the defense is seeking dismissal. The court's Nov. 2 session will address additional motions and scheduling.