US judge denies defence request to find Lindsay Clancy not guilty after mistrial

A Massachusetts judge dismissed defense lawyers' request to declare Lindsay Clancy not guilty of murder on Thursday, stating the prosecution provided enough evidence for a jury to find her responsible for the 2023 deaths of her three young children. Clancy's lawyers had argued the prosecution failed to prove she was criminally responsible for the murders, citing her alleged mental illness, but Judge William Sullivan ruled that the evidence presented by prosecutors was sufficient to hold her accountable.

Despite the children's bodies being found strangled with exercise bands in the basement of their Duxbury home, Clancy's lawyers argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, or lacking criminal responsibility. However, Sullivan cited testimony from prosecution experts who believed the defendant had the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of her actions and wrote that the fact finder could place little or no weight on Clancy's expert witnesses' differing opinions.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy faces life in prison, and if found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation.