Judge could dismiss Lindsay Clancy murder case in court hearing today

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.

Lindsay Clancy, the former Massachusetts nurse who strangled her three young children before jumping from a second-story window, returns to court Tuesday, where a judge could decide whether she will face a second murder trial.

Clancy, 36, is scheduled to appear in Plymouth Superior Court for her first hearing since her high-profile murder trial ended Sept. 4 in a mistrial. The jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of acquitting the labor and delivery nurse, who claimed a rare severe condition called postpartum psychosis drove her to kill her children in January 2023.

Clancy’s legal team is pushing the judge to take the extraordinary step of dismissing the case entirely rather than ordering a retrial.

In pre-hearing motions, defense attorneys argue the judge should have dismissed the lone holdout juror who favored conviction after the jury foreperson reported he refused to apply the legal standard for reasonable doubt. The defense is also demanding an investigation into whether that juror lied on his pre-trial questionnaire, gave false statements during a judicial inquiry, or violated court rules by using a cellphone during deliberations.

Tuesday’s hearing could also force prosecutors to reveal their next move. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz’s office can choose to retry Clancy on first-degree murder, proceed on lesser charges like second-degree murder or manslaughter, or drop the prosecution altogether. Following the mistrial, Cruz insisted his goal remained "getting justice for those three little babies."

Clancy has never denied killing her children—5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan—with exercise bands at their Duxbury home.

Prosecutors argued at trial that the killings were premeditated, alleging Clancy intentionally sent her husband out of the house to pick up medicine and takeout dinner to give herself time to carry out the strangulations and a suicide attempt.

The defense countered that months of severe mental health struggles, psychiatric hospitalizations, and postpartum psychosis rendered her delusional and incapable of understanding her actions. Clancy, who was left paralyzed from the waist down after leaping from a window following the attack, remains held at a psychiatric hospital pending the resolution of her case.