Lindsay Clancy’s attorney has asked the judge presiding over her case to declare her not guilty after her murder trial ended in a mistrial.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked Judge William Sullivan to find Clancy, 36, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. Reddington argued that prosecutors didn’t prove during the nearly seven-week trial that the defendant was legally responsible and in her right mind when she killed her kids Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023.
The attorney also noted that 11 out of the 12 jurors were prepared to find Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. However, the case was ultimately declared a mistrial on September 4, after one juror refused to find her not guilty.
Reddington argued in the filing that the prosecutors did not prove Clancy understood the wrongfulness of her actions or could conform her conduct to the law, and he argued that the evidence presented against her did not make a strong argument about her guilt.
The defense went on to say that they want the judge to independently rule the evidence was legally insufficient to convict Clancy.
If the motion is granted, the decision would amount to an acquittal for Clancy and prosecutors would be blocked from bringing her case back for another trial.
Clancy’s lawyers said they want the motion to be heard at an upcoming court hearing on September 29. Sullivan has not yet publicly responded to the filing.
A handful of the jurors have come forward following the trial, with Nick Dargie telling ABC News on Wednesday, September 9, that he never learned why the holdout juror refused to find Clancy not guilty.
“There were several times I would ask him to show us, like, evidence or, you know, describe a witness testimony that helped to prove what he was saying, and he couldn’t,” Dargie, 25, told the outlet. “There wasn’t a single piece of evidence or witness testimony that he used to prove why he was thinking the way he was, which is why we ultimately sent in that note.”
Dargie continued, “Otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with somebody having a completely opposite opinion. That would be a hung jury. That is our justice system.”
Meanwhile, three women on the jury spoke to NBC10 Boston on Tuesday, September 8, about the case ending in a mistrial.
“He admitted he had reasonable doubt, and I started filling out the forms,” the foreperson of the jury said of the holdout juror. “I was so excited. There were three forms I had to fill out and I started filling them out. I wrote my signature on each one and then he said, ‘But I’m still not going say that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity.’”
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