PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — A Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children has asked a judge to split her upcoming murder trial into two phases.
Lindsay Clancy appears virtually at a pretrial hearing on March 1, 2026. (Court TV)
Lindsay Clancy allegedly killed her children, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, by strangling them with exercise bands before cutting herself with a knife and jumping out of a second-story window. Clancy has never disputed her role in the crimes, but has argued in court documents that she was insane when the children were killed.
At a motions hearing on Monday, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, urged the judge to split Clancy’s upcoming trial into two parts. Reddington argued that the Massachusetts Constitution supports bifurcating the trial, with the first stage focused on criminal liability and the second on criminal responsibility.
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The difference, Reddington said, is that the first trial would require the Commonwealth to prove that Clancy was the person who murdered the children; the second would be where prosecutors would prove that Clancy was “mentally responsible” for the crimes. Reddington said that combining the two stages would violate Clancy’s Fifth Amendment protections against incriminating herself.
Prosecutors pushed back at Reddington’s request, saying that because Clancy is using an insanity defense, her Fifth Amendment rights were waived for interviews she’s done with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague told Judge William Sullivan that the two phases of the trial would be nearly identical and require the same witnesses and evidence.
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Judge Sullivan said he would take the issue under advisement and release a ruling “as soon as I can.”
Clancy is scheduled to sit for a psychiatric evaluation in April; the parties will return to court in May ahead of the trial, scheduled to start in July.
