A jury deadlocked for seven days last month rather than convict Lindsay Clancy of murdering her three children.
Her defense attorney stepped back into Plymouth Superior Court for the first time since that mistrial – and opened by naming Donald Trump.
He invoked Trump's name from the defense table – and followed it with a request prosecutors are calling laughable.
Lindsay Clancy Retrial Hearing What Kevin Reddington Said and What Trump Actually Said
Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts labor and delivery nurse, was charged with three counts of murder after strangling her children in January 2023. She never disputed the act.
Her defense argued postpartum psychosis stripped her of the ability to understand what she was doing. After five weeks of testimony and deadlocked deliberations, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on September 4.
Kevin Reddington, the veteran Massachusetts criminal defense attorney representing Clancy, told Judge Sullivan that public sentiment about his client had been poisoned by politicians going straight to the White House.
"And then they go off on a tangent about all of these horrific allegations, you know," Reddington said in court Tuesday, "that she's a demon and she's possessed and she should be executed, and this is coming from politicians, you know, from President Trump all the way down."
Trump's actual words, delivered from the Oval Office on September 4 at an executive order signing, were measured.
"It's a shame. It's a horrible tragedy," the president told reporters. "Look, she did a horrible, horrible thing. Can't be worse. But you'll find out what the price to pay is. There will be a price. It's going to be a mental institution, or jail, or something."
Trump never called her a demon or called for her execution. He called it a tragedy and said consequences were coming.
Fox News confirmed Trump revisited the case weeks later, after the lone holdout juror went public. The president called the situation "very sad."
None of that matches what Reddington described from the defense table.
The Same Attorney Who Begged Trump for Help
Reddington left out one detail while invoking Trump's name as a source of prejudice.
Three weeks earlier, he went on national television and asked Donald Trump to pardon Lindsay Clancy.
He knew it was legally impossible. Clancy faces state charges. The pardon power does not reach state courts. Reddington said as much at the time.
"The goal is pretty simple. It's to seek help from Trump," Reddington told reporters on September 9. He acknowledged the request was legally impossible for a state case but said Trump "certainly has an awful lot of clout."
Twenty days later, he stood before the same judge and named Trump as the leading voice of inflammatory prejudice against his client.
Reddington Seeks Lindsay Clancy Charges Dismissed Before Any Retrial Begins
Reddington's primary ask Tuesday was dismissal.
His argument: there was insufficient evidence to prove Clancy understood that what she was doing was wrong.
That argument runs directly into what happened at trial.
Clancy's defense never disputed that she strangled Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months old. Five weeks of testimony centered entirely on whether she was in a state of psychosis – not whether she committed the act.
The jury deadlocked because one holdout juror refused to find Clancy not criminally responsible. His attorney told reporters after Tuesday's hearing that the juror has two priorities: justice for the children and his own privacy.
Now Reddington is telling the judge there was not enough evidence to charge her at all.
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called that argument "laughable" and pointed to evidence raised at trial.
Judge Sullivan did not rule. No retrial date has been set. Cruz told reporters his office has not decided on a path forward.
The next hearing is scheduled for November 2.
Three Names the Courtroom Kept Missing
Reddington went further Tuesday.
He used Trump's name as a tool twice in three weeks – first to seek political intervention, then to claim courthouse prejudice. The strategy shifted the moment the pardon bid failed.
Meanwhile, the three people at the center of this case disappeared from the argument.
Their names were Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy.
Their mother admitted her conduct at trial. Patrick Clancy's attorney said another trial would be "extraordinarily painful" – for Patrick, his family, and everyone connected to the case.
Cruz has made clear whose side he is on.
"Getting justice for those three little babies" – those were his words after the mistrial.
Sources:
- Staff, "Trump Calls Lindsay Clancy Trial 'Very Sad' After Holdout Juror Speaks Out," Fox News, September 18, 2026.
- Stepheny Price, "Massachusetts Mom Offers to Admit Killing 3 Children as Prosecutors Push Back on Move That Could Dodge Prison," Fox News, April 7, 2026.