Clancy’s defense team has filed a motion to reconsider a previous bid for a multi-phase trial, which was denied last week. The defense team for Duxbury woman Lindsay Clancy has asked a judge to reconsider a motion for her upcoming murder trial to be split into two phases. Clancy is accused of killing her three children in 2023. Last week, the judge overseeing the case denied her request for a two-part trial in Plymouth Superior Court. Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s attorney, plans to pursue an insanity defense. If the motion he requested had passed, one part of the trial would have been dedicated to seeing whether prosecutors could prove Clancy killed her children, and the other would be to determine if she was sane at the time of the killings. Judge William Sullivan denied Clancy’s request March 30 on the grounds that her guilt and criminal responsibility are overlapping issues and should therefore be considered together. A single trial, he wrote, “will be the most efficient and least confusing way to present this case to a jury.” Three days later, Clancy’s defense team motioned for a reconsideration, court records show. The April 2 motion states that Clancy is “willing to stipulate formally” to her involvement in her children’s deaths and claims that the “only live issue” in court is her state of mind at the time. “The defendant understands that the government has a right to ‘prove its case’ but where there is an agreement for a stipulątion the defendant submits that it is elevating form over substance to require a full blown trial on the issue of culpability as opposed to criminal responsibility,” the motion states. In response, prosecutors filed a memorandum that same day opposing Clancy’s motion for reconsideration and asserting that it would not agree to stipulate to any facts about the case, records show. The defense then clarified April 3 that Clancy would be admitting to the killings voluntarily rather than reaching an agreement with the Commonwealth. “The Court agreed with the Commonwealth that evidence of the defendant’s deliberate premeditation or extreme atrocity or cruelty could be properly considered on the issue of criminal responsibility,” prosecutors wrote in the memorandum. “The Commonwealth has a right to present this evidence in a manner of its choosing as long as it comports with the rules of evidence.” As of Tuesday, no ruling has been made on Clancy’s motion. Reddington told Boston. com that, while he hopes Sullivan will reconsider, he is not optimistic that the outcome will be different. If Sullivan again denies Clancy’s bid for a two-phase trial, her defense team will continue to pursue an insanity plea, Reddington said. Her trial is currently scheduled to begin July 20. Prosecutors say Clancy strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy in their Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023. Afterward, she allegedly tried to kill herself, leaving her paralyzed.
https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2026/04/07/lindsay-clancy-will-admit-to-killing-her-children-if-trial-is-split-into-2-parts-defense-says/