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Judge denies Lindsay Clancy’s request for two-part murder trial
Clancy will stand trial in July for allegedly killing her three children in 2023.
The judge overseeing Lindsay Clancy’s murder case has denied her request to split her upcoming trial into two phases when the matter goes before a jury in July.
Clancy, the Duxbury woman accused of killing her three children in 2023, has said she struggled with postpartum mental illness and auditory hallucinations following the birth of her youngest child. Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, is mounting an insanity defense.
Previously:
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Lindsay Clancy appears in court for first in-person hearing since allegedly killing her children
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‘Go to God, baby’: Lindsay Clancy files malpractice lawsuit, says she heard a voice ordering her to kill her children
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Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer warns she could kill herself if medical needs not met during murder trial
Reddington also asked that Clancy’s trial be split into two parts, one to see whether prosecutors can prove Clancy killed her children, and the other to determine whether she was in her right mind at the time of the killings.
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However, Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan found that the question of Clancy’s guilt and criminal responsibility are overlapping issues that don’t need bifurcation.
“Moreover, it would be nearly impossible to divide the evidence cleanly between two phases as the defendant proposes,” Sullivan wrote in his order Monday. “Having witnesses provide the same testimony for, at best, marginally different purposes for each proposed phase does not further the interests of judicial economy.”
A single trial, he added, “will be the most efficient and least confusing way to present this case to a jury.”
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Clancy, 35, is due to stand trial July 20. She has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder and strangulation in the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy.
Prosecutors say Clancy strangled her children at home in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023, after sending her husband out to run errands. She allegedly then tried to kill herself, leaving her paralyzed.
In a civil lawsuit filed in January, Clancy accused her mental health care providers of failing to diagnose her bipolar disorder and prescribing a laundry list of pharmaceuticals that ultimately triggered a psychotic break.
“I lost all control. My body started acting without any control on my part,” she recalled in the complaint. “I was just following commands, ‘all action.’ This voice demanded action.”
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