A Massachusetts judge indicated Monday that he is leaning toward scheduling a March retrial for Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother who pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her three young children. The timeline emerged during a three-hour hearing in Plymouth Superior Court that also addressed motions for a gag order, double jeopardy concerns, and an investigation into the holdout juror from her first trial.
Clancy’s initial trial ended in a mistrial on a hung jury on Sept. 4. While 11 jurors favored an acquittal, a single holdout juror blocked a unanimous verdict. During the first trial, defense attorney Kevin Reddington acknowledged that Clancy killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan at their Duxbury home, but argued she was not criminally responsible due to overmedication and postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors contended she understood her actions and planned the killings.
At Monday’s proceedings, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague announced for the government that Clancy will likely face a retrial, though prosecutors have not yet determined the specific charges or how the case will proceed. Sprague asked Judge William Sullivan to defer setting an official trial date until he rules on pending motions.
Reddington strongly objected to the delay, pointing to Judge Sullivan’s approaching retirement as a pressing logistical factor. “Why do we not know if the next trial is going to be murder in the first degree or a lesser charge or no charge?” Reddington asked the court, asserting he needs to know whether his client faces a triple homicide first-degree charge or something else. Reddington added, “I am not going to have this woman sit incarcerated for the next year, or two, or three. I want a trial. And I want it with you, and I want it this spring.”
Judge Sullivan stated he views March as a realistic target for a second trial, with further scheduling discussions set for a hearing in two weeks on Nov. 16.
Legal teams also debated a prosecution motion for a gag order. Sprague argued that Reddington has made calculated public statements capable of tainting the jury pool for a future trial, noting that moving the venue would offer no relief because the high-profile case is universally known. Defense attorney Laura McConnell opposed the restriction, arguing that because Clancy does not give media interviews, Reddington acts as her voice, and a gag order would strip away that representation. Judge Sullivan took the matter under advisement.
Another major point of contention centered on defense efforts to preserve records and investigate the holdout juror, referred to in court as Juror Doe. Reddington argued that the juror was dishonest on his jury disclosure form by failing to mention an abuse prevention order and a 2021 arrest, and alleged the juror was improperly using his phone during deliberations. A brief, heated exchange occurred when Reddington named the juror in open court, prompting Judge Sullivan to interrupt.
Heather O’Connor, an attorney representing the holdout juror, pushed back against the defense motion, noting that the defense had the opportunity to question the juror prior to empanelment and expressed satisfaction with his service. O’Connor argued that the jury notes sent during deliberations contained no complaints of outside research or improper phone use, and maintained that the investigation is being pursued solely because the juror disagreed with the majority verdict. “We are here because Juror Doe did not vote the way the defense needed,” O’Connor said. Judge Sullivan did not rule on the juror records motion.
Earlier in the hearing, defense attorney Martin Weinberg argued double jeopardy issues, contending that jury notes during deliberations indicated the holdout juror was not deliberating in good faith and warranted probing questioning by the court. Judge Sullivan and Sprague both defended the court’s handling of the jury, with Sprague maintaining that the juror simply refused to agree rather than refusing to deliberate.
Clancy remains in custody under psychiatric care at Tewksbury State Hospital. She is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair after jumping from a window on the night her children died. Rosemary Scapicchio, a civil attorney representing Clancy, said in an interview prior to the hearing that Clancy remains on suicide watch and lives daily with the trauma of her children’s deaths while a civil lawsuit against her former medical providers remains on hold pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
