Lindsay Clancy is accused of killing her three young kids before attempting suicide on Jan. 24, 2023.
The Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three children to death before she tried to kill herself by jumping out of a second-story window in her family’s Boston-area home lacked the mental capacity to commit murder, her attorney said over the weekend.
Brockton-based attorney Kevin Reddington spoke at length about the alleged mental state of his client, Lindsay M. Clancy, 32, who he said was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications between October 2022 and January of this year.
In dueling interviews with the Boston Globe and Boston Herald last week, the defense attorney described the defendant’s mental state as zombie-like and the result of “absolutely overmedication — possibly with a component of post-partum depression.”
Reddington is a renowned trial attorney in the Bay State for the first successful use of the “battered woman syndrome” defense to get a client acquitted of murder charges – Therese Rogers stabbed her serially abusive boyfriend in the eyes while he was sleeping and killed him; she was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity in 1989.
On Friday, in comments to the Globe, he heavily hinted at his efforts in the tragic case of his present client by referencing the “black-letter law definition of lack of criminal responsibility in Massachusetts.”
In an email to Law&Crime, the defense attorney said he planned to argue Lindsay Clancy lacked the mental capacity to commit the murders she is currently charged with. Reddington also said he anticipated that she will eventually be charged with the murder of her infant.
The defendant, who was arrested last month, faces murder charges in the deaths of her daughter, Cora Clancy, 5, and son, Dawson Clancy, 3. She has yet to be charged with murder of her 7-month-old son, Callan Clancy, who succumbed to his injuries three days after the incident. She has been charged with three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, officials previously said.
Reddington, in his email, declined to offer any additional details on the facts of the case.
According to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, the Duxbury Police Department received a call around 6 p.m. on Jan. 24, from the defendant’s husband, Patrick Clancy, who returned home from picking up dinner and found that his wife had attempted suicide. Each of the three children had been strangled, Cruz said.
The defendant’s husband has publicly asked for his wife to be forgiven – by way of a lengthy letter posted on a GoFundMe that eulogized each young member of his family. He also promised that he would spend all of his energy “into healing and rediscovering [his] purpose.”
“This GoFundMe is intended to help Pat pay for medical bills, funeral services, and legal help,” the fundraiser which amassed over $1 million explains. “This assistance is especially needed because Pat will be unable to work for the foreseeable future as he weathers this painful, life-altering tragedy.”
In his email, however, Reddington said the GoFundMe “has nothing to do with” his client’s legal defense.
Lindsay Clancy will be arraigned on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. from her hospital bed. Attorneys for the state and the defense will appear in person and the hearing will occur via Zoom in the Plymouth District Court.
[image via Facebook]
