PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — Accused killer Lindsay Clancy is renewing her request to split her upcoming murder trial into two parts, and to that effect, she says she’s willing to admit her role in the killings.
Lindsay Clancy appears virtually at a pretrial hearing on March 1, 2026. (Court TV)
Clancy, 35, is charged with three counts of murder and three counts of strangulation or suffocation for allegedly killing her three young children. Clancy has pleaded not guilty and has indicated she plans to use an insanity defense, arguing she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis during the incident.
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, had previously asked Judge William Sullivan to bifurcate the trial into two phases, with the first focused on proving that she committed the crime and the second focused on whether she possessed the ability to form the intent to commit the crime. Sullivan denied the motion, saying it would be “nearly impossible” to split the evidence apart and the process would be duplicative.
Now, Reddington has filed a new motion asking Sullivan to reconsider his ruling. The latest filing argues that the death of the children “is not a live issue, and the defendant is willing to stipulate formally in writing to her involvement in the underlying conduct resulting in the death of the three children. With that understanding, the defendant submits that the only live issue for consideration at trial would be the defendant’s state of mind as it relates to the defense of lack of criminal responsibility.”
Investigators say Clancy used exercise bands to kill her children, ages 5, 3, and 7 months, before jumping out of a second-story window at the family’s Duxbury home. Prosecutors have pointed to evidence that Clancy plotted the children’s deaths, going so far as to map out routes to send her husband away from the house on the day of the slayings; But Clancy has maintained that she had no responsibility for her own actions and was hearing voices telling her to kill the children.
Prosecutors filed a response opposing the move to bifurcate the trial, saying that there is no case law that would supoort doing so, “even in cases in which the defense argues that the evidence supporting a lack of criminal responsibility would be harmful to its defense against the merits of the case.” The Commonwealth’s response does not address the defense’s offer to stipulate to Clancy’s involvement.
Clancy’s jury trial is scheduled to begin in July.
