In the Lindsay Clancy case, all eyes are on Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz, as we wait to hear if he will try Clancy for First Degree Murder again for the strangulation deaths of her three young children.
Or, if he will seek a lesser charge in a new trial.
On Monday, Boston 25’s Bob Ward asked Cruz about it.
“Tim, what are the things you got to think about before you come up with a decision on what you’re going to do?” Ward asked.
“I think there are a lot of things in every case. You have to go through them and be thorough, talk to people about where you currently stand with the case. That’s what we are going to do.
At the same time, the DA is also weighing its legal options in another similar case: Latarsha Sanders.
In 2022, Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2018 stabbing deaths of her two young children in Brockton.
But in August, as the Clancy trial was underway, the state’s highest court ordered a new trial, finding the trial judge did not allow the Sanders jury to hear post-arrest evidence of her mental health issues.
Judge William Sullivan was the trial judge for both Sanders and Clancy.
Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Elyse Hershon expects the DA will seek first-degree murder convictions against both Sanders and Clancy.
“I do not expect them to treat Sanders and Clancy differently. But I also expect he will treat the first-degree murder cases similarly. And if he can go forward with first degree, he will,” Hershon told Ward.
But can prosecutors get unanimous first-degree murder verdicts in both of these cases?
The Clancy trial ended 11-1 in favor of not guilty by reason of insanity.
“They are adjacent to each other at this point. The timing of it. They’re both mothers, similar ages, same county, same judge. How do you keep one from the other? Strong feelings about Clancy could be brought into the Sanders case and vice versa,” Hershon said.
In a Statement to Boston 25 News, the Plymouth County DA’s office said, “As we reported at the status conference on October 28, we hired expert Fabian Saleh ( forensic psychiatrist) for evaluation and review of the Sanders case. Our intention is to retry, but we await the report and Dr. Saleh’s findings.”
In Clancy, we are first waiting for Judge William Sullivan to rule on a defense motion to drop the charges.
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