PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy’s fight over Friday’s mistrial is not finished. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington plans to ask Massachusetts Superior Court Judge William Sullivan to set aside the hung-jury outcome and rule from the bench that Clancy is not criminally responsible for the January 2023 killings of her three children — a Mass. Rule 25(b)(2) set-aside bid that outside counsel say almost never succeeds, the New York Post reported Sept. 7, 2026.

If granted, the move would shield Clancy from a possible second trial and potential conviction. Reddington is expected to argue the motion at Clancy’s next hearing on Sept. 29, the Post reported.

Boston criminal-defense lawyer Peter Elikann, who is not connected to the case, told the Post such relief is extraordinarily uncommon. “The granting of [such] a 25(b)(2) motion is rare in the extreme,” Elikann said. He added that Reddington “has to be commended for leaving virtually no stone unturned” and that it is “commendable that he’s bringing this motion forward.”

Elikann explained the motion can prevail only if the defense shows the jury’s deadlock rested on a failure so complete that a judge must intervene. “It would be used if it was genuinely believed that the jury got it totally wrong and that their decision was not based on sufficient evidence whatsoever,” he said. “However, most judges go through their entire career without even granting one of those once.”

“We don’t undo what juries did. We really respect juries,” Elikann said. “It would have to be something that the jury got totally, totally wrong, and I don’t think anybody is accusing the jury of that here.”

The 12-person panel — nine women and three men — deliberated more than 38 hours over seven days and sent Sullivan three deadlock notes, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, according to the Post. After the final note Friday, Reddington sought an emergency stay from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court over a disputed holdout juror; the high court denied the bid, and Sullivan declared the mistrial.

Jurors’ names are set for release Sept. 18. Elikann said lawyers on both sides will likely watch for any media interviews. “They kind of want to know the thinking of the jury, what impressions the jury had … because you might change your whole strategy,” he told the Post. He also noted Reddington has said he “clobbered the prosecution and would likely do the exact same defense he did this time.”

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz has not said whether prosecutors will retry the case, downgrade charges, pursue a plea, or dismiss. The office is expected to tip its hand at the Sept. 29 hearing — if not sooner — where a new trial date could also be set. On Friday, Reddington asked for a second trial within about two weeks; Sullivan indicated late fall at the earliest, still a fast turnaround by typical retrial standards, Elikann told the Post.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, is charged with murdering Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months, on Jan. 24, 2023. At trial, Reddington argued severe postpartum psychosis and a commanding hallucinatory voice left her without criminal responsibility. Prosecutors said she was lucid enough to plan the exercise-band stranglings before attempting suicide. She is paraplegic and wheelchair-bound after falling from an upstairs window and remains held at Tewksbury Hospital pending the case.

A not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity finding at a second trial would mean indefinite psychiatric commitment until doctors and a judge found she was no longer a danger. A first-degree murder conviction carries life without parole.

Sources