Lindsay Clancy Update (Sept. 2026): Her Lawyer Is Asking a Judge to End the Case Without a Retrial
The gist — twelve days after a hung jury ended her trial, Lindsay Clancy's lawyer is not waiting to see whether prosecutors want a second one. He has asked the judge to end the case outright, on two separate theories, and both land in court on Sept. 29.
- Sept. 10: the defense filed a six-page motion asking Judge William Sullivan to enter a finding of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility on every count.
- Also coming Sept. 29: a motion to dismiss on double-jeopardy grounds, arguing there was no "manifest necessity" for the mistrial in the first place.
- Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz still has not said whether his office will retry the case.
What did Clancy's lawyer actually file?
Attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion on Thursday, Sept. 10, asking the court to enter a finding of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility rather than leave the charges standing.
His argument is about the state's own evidence. The motion says no rational jury could find
, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Clancy had no mental disease or defect when the Commonwealth's own proof at trial established that she did.
It is a narrow, technical request with a very wide consequence. If Sullivan grants it, the case is over and there is no retrial.
What is the double-jeopardy motion?
That is the second, separate track. Reddington has said he will also ask Sullivan to throw the case out because the mistrial should never have been declared.
A judge may discharge a deadlocked jury only when there is manifest necessity to do so. Reddington's position is that Sullivan should have questioned the holdout juror further before concluding the panel was stuck. If there was no manifest necessity, the argument goes, jeopardy attached and the Commonwealth does not get a second try.
Two motions, two completely different routes to the same result. Neither one needs the DA's cooperation.
What happened on Sept. 4?
Sullivan declared a mistrial in Plymouth Superior Court after the jury of nine women and three men reported for the third time that it could not agree. Deliberations had run roughly 38 hours across about a week.
Clancy is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 deaths of her children at the family's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. She pleaded not guilty. Her lawyers did not contest that she caused the deaths; they argued she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible.
ABC put an all-new hour on the air the same night. We wrote up that broadcast and the courtroom sequence behind it in our 20/20 special recap; this page picks the story up from there.
Where is Lindsay Clancy now?
At Tewksbury State Hospital, the state psychiatric facility where she has been held throughout the case. The mistrial changed nothing about her custody.
It changed nothing about the charges either. A hung jury is not an acquittal. All three counts stand exactly as they did the morning the trial opened.
What are the possible outcomes on Sept. 29?
| If the judge… | Then |
|---|---|
| Grants the not-guilty finding | Case ends. No retrial, no appeal of an acquittal by the state. |
| Grants the dismissal on double jeopardy | Case ends, but the ruling itself can be appealed. |
| Denies both, DA retries | New jury, likely this fall — Sullivan has signaled he would prefer that timing. |
| Denies both, DA does not retry | Charges could be reduced, resolved by agreement, or dropped. |
👉 The one outcome nobody has floated is the case simply sitting still.
Has the DA said anything?
Only that the first-degree charges were warranted and that his office would decide about a retrial in its own time. On the day of the mistrial Cruz said children were murdered and that it is his job to seek justice. He has not set a deadline for himself.
Prosecutors had not filed a public response to the Sept. 10 motion as of Wednesday morning.
FAQ
When is Lindsay Clancy's next court date?
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, at 9 a.m. in Plymouth Superior Court.
Was Lindsay Clancy found not guilty?
No. The jury deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial, which leaves the charges in place. Her lawyer is now asking the judge to enter a not-guilty finding.
Will there be a second trial?
Undecided. The DA has not committed either way, and two defense motions could end the case before that question is reached.
More from the case files
Two other trials we are following are further along than this one: jury selection in the Caleb Flynn case in Ohio and the delayed start of Gregory Moore's trial in Cleveland. For a case where the criminal-responsibility question was settled long ago and the fight is over release, see our file on Morgan Geyser. The Delphi appeal is argued this coming Monday, and everything else is in Case Updates. Air times for all three newsmagazines are in our viewing guide, and this week's grid is here.
Sources
- ABC News — Clancy's attorney asks judge to force a not-guilty finding
- WBUR — Following mistrial, Clancy attorney asks court to find her not guilty
- CBS News — Reddington to ask that the case be thrown out
- CBS News — What happens next after the mistrial
- WBUR — Judge declares mistrial after jurors fail to reach a verdict
- NPR — With jury deadlocked, judge declares a mistrial
- Aliza Sherman Update (Sept. 2026): Gregory Moore's Murder Trial Stalls on Day One Over Defense Motions
- Caleb Flynn Update (Sept. 2026): Jury Selection Starts Thursday, and the Venue Fight Isn't Over
- Jared Bridegan Update (Sept. 2026): Judge Won't Step Aside, Gardner Trial Set for May 2027
- Blaise Taylor Update (Sept. 2026): Two Back-to-Back Life Sentences for Ex-NFL Scout