PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The defense team for Lindsay Clancy is asking a judge to reconsider a key ruling in her murder case, revealing in court documents that the Duxbury mother would admit to killing her three young children if the court agrees to split her upcoming trial into two phases.
In a new Plymouth Superior Court filing, Clancy’s attorneys argue the trial should be divided so that a jury first decides whether she committed the killings, and then separately considers her mental state at the time.
Clancy’s team intends to pursue an insanity defense and wants jurors to focus independently on the question of guilt and the question of criminal responsibility.
A judge previously ruled last week that the trial would not be split.
In a motion to reconsider the ruling, the defense stated that Clancy is “willing to stipulate formally” to her involvement in the deaths of her children in exchange for a bifurcated trial, something defense attorney Kevin Reddington had asked for in February when his client made her first in-person court appearance.
“The defendant states that the issue of the actions that resulted in the death of the decedents in the indictments at the bar is not a live issue, and the defendant is willing to stipulate formally in writing to her involvement in the underlying conduct resulting in the death of the three young children,” Reddington noted in the motion.
The stipulation would mean “the only live issue at trial would be the defendant’s state of mind as it related to the defense of lack of criminal responsibility,” according to Reddington.
Read the motion to reconsider:
Prosecutors are opposing the request in a filing of their own, maintaining that the case should be tried in a single phase.
“There is no constitutional right to a bifurcated trial on the merits of the case and the issue of the defendant’s lack of criminal responsibility,” the prosecution’s filing states. “The Commonwealth has been unable to find any case law in the Commonwealth in which such a motion was allowed by the trial judge.”
Clancy’s team has said she was suffering from postpartum depression and was overmedicated at the time of the killings, which they argue severely impaired her mental health.
Prosecutors say Clancy used exercise bands to strangle her kids before jumping out of a second-floor window in a suicide attempt at her Summer Street home in Duxbury on the evening of Jan. 24, 2023.
Clancy is charged with three counts of murder and strangulation in the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, her 3-year-old son, Dawson, and her 7-month-old baby, Callan.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
She and her husband recently filed lawsuits against her medical providers, alleging they failed to properly diagnose, treat, and manage her postpartum depression.
Clancy’s trial is currently scheduled to begin in July.
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