Lindsay Clancy’s attorney has taken the extraordinary step of asking President Donald Trump for a pardon after the Massachusetts mother’s murder case ended in a mistrial — and while the White House has not responded, Trump himself has already weighed in on the high-profile case.
Kevin Reddington, who represented Clancy throughout her nearly seven-week trial, made the public appeal on the September 8, 2026, episode of Good Morning America, days after a 12-person jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision in the case of the mother charged with killing her three young children in January 2023.
“Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady and the person she is, what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” Reddington said.
Donald Trump on the Lindsay Clancy Case
Trump addressed the Clancy case on the day the mistrial was declared, telling reporters that coverage of the trial was on “television so much” that it was “hard not to follow it.”
“Look, she did a horrible, horrible thing. Can’t be worse,” Trump said of Clancy. “But you’ll find out what the price to pay is. There’ll be a price. It’s going to be mental institution or jail or something, but I guess they’re going to go through another trial. It’s too bad.”
The president’s remarks stopped well short of any indication he would consider clemency. And as of Reddington’s Good Morning America appearance, the White House had not responded to the attorney’s public pardon request.
Kevin Reddington’s Pardon Request Explained
Reddington’s appeal to Trump came after a jury deliberated for six days and more than 30 hours before deadlocking 11-1, with one male juror refusing to join the rest of the panel in a not-guilty verdict.
Clancy’s attorney told Good Morning America that he remained “upset” over how the case ended, placing the blame on the lone holdout juror.
“He had agreed, according to the note from the forelady, that he had doubt but he would not present the law of reasonable doubt as presented by the judge,” Reddington said. “That’s not right and that’s why I was upset.”
Asked about the possibility of a retrial, Reddington said he hoped Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz would reconsider pursuing the case again after sitting through the evidence presented over the course of the trial.
“He’s a very hard-charging prosecutor, a conservative gentleman,” Reddington said of Cruz. “I hope however after sitting through this trial and seeing the evidence that was presented from the government as well as from the defense, that he would revisit that issue and hopefully would be able to work something out that would be acceptable to both sides.”
Inside the Charges Against Lindsay Clancy
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 deaths of her three children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. She pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors alleged Clancy fatally strangled the three children before attempting suicide by jumping out of a second-story window, an act that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Her defense team argued throughout the trial that she had been suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder before and at the time of the killings, and that she was not able to differentiate right from wrong.
Because of that, her attorneys argued, she should not be held criminally responsible for her children’s deaths.
Clancy faced the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. Had she been acquitted, she would likely have been sent to a secure state mental health facility.
District Attorney Timothy Cruz’s Response to the Mistrial Ruling
Cruz has so far declined to announce whether his office will pursue a retrial. Speaking outside the courthouse on September 4, 2026, after the mistrial ruling, the district attorney offered no concessions to the defense’s framing of the case.
“I appreciate the fact that there are strong feelings and opinions tied to this case,” Cruz said. “However, our job is to set aside our feelings and focus solely on the facts. The facts are Lindsay Clancy killed her three children and the evidence suggested to us that she was in control of her actions when she committed those homicides.”
Another hearing has been scheduled for September 29, 2026, as the future of the case remains unclear.
Kevin Reddington on Lindsay Clancy
In the moments after the mistrial was declared, Reddington delivered an emotional statement to reporters, defending both his client and his handling of the case.
“Well, obviously this is not a time for gloating or bragging, expressing victory. It’s a very sad case,” Reddington told reporters on September 4, 2026. “[Plymouth County District Attorney] Cruz knows that he was crushed, that he doesn’t have a case, he doesn’t have to stand here and say that he’s advocating on behalf of the victims and then look down to see what their names are.”
The attorney went on to describe Clancy as a courageous person who had endured nearly seven weeks of testimony while confined to a wheelchair.
“I’m representing a woman who is a fantastic, wonderful individual. This woman is so brave; so awesome. Every day she came into this court house, stood tall — no pun intended, the poor thing is in a wheelchair as we all know for the rest of her life — sat there through seven weeks of a trial where nobody had anything bad to say about her except for the two prosecutors and apparently Tim Cruz.”
Reddington also spoke about how Clancy responded any time her three children were mentioned during the proceedings.
“It’s not right what she had to go through, because she grieves the loss of those three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, because I know their names. I don’t have to look down on a piece of paper and find out what their names are,” he said. “Every time somebody had something to say about those young kids, Lindsay would smile and say, ‘I’m glad.’ She wants them to be remembered.”
The attorney was pointed in his criticism of the lone juror who refused to acquit, saying the other jurors were “robbed” of the outcome the majority had reached.
“They know that they were robbed … he stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors who were so attentive … so wonderful … you could see how defeated they were sitting there,” Reddington said. “I have a funny feeling they would have gone on for another week. So I hope that guy can sleep at night.”
Reddington added that Clancy was “not good” following the mistrial, and neither were her parents.
“Lindsay is very very very strong, she is a very very intelligent young woman, very emotionally invested and just a classic example of a tragic … her life is a tragedy,” he said.
If you or someone you know is pregnant or just had a baby and is in crisis, help is available. Call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline for free, confidential support 24/7 in English and Spanish at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).
