PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — Days after Lindsay Clancy‘s murder trial ended with a deadlocked jury, her ex-husband and father of the three victims in the case is threatening legal action against people speculating that he was involved in his children’s deaths.
Lindsay Clancy appears in court on Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/POOL)
Lindsay Clancy, 36, admitted to killing her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — by strangling them with exercise bands in the family’s Duxbury home. At the time of the children’s deaths, Lindsay Clancy was married to Patrick Clancy, the children’s father. On Jan. 24, 2023, Patrick Clancy ran to pick up dinner for the family; in the time he was gone, Lindsay Clancy killed the children before slashing her throat and wrists with a knife and jumping out of a second-story window. While Lindsay Clancy has admitted to her actions, she has pleaded not guilty to three charges of first-degree murder, arguing that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial drew attention from around the world, with people logging on to social media to criticize the prosecution, offer commentary on the case and, in some cases, even suggest that the defendant had not killed her children and accuse Patrick Clancy of being the killer.
“Over the past months, Patrick Clancy and his family have been subjected to a relentless, escalating and destructive defamation campaign,” his attorney, Howard Cooper, said in a statement to Court TV on Tuesday. “This campaign of misinformation has been launched and promoted by minor celebrities, so-called influencers and outright conspiracy theorists who appear intent on boosting their own social media profiles and potential profits by publishing what they know to be outright falsehoods that Patrick was somehow involved in the death of his young children and other vile claims.”
Patrick Clancy testifies in court. (David Ryan/The Boston Globe/Pool)
Cooper’s statement said that Patrick Clancy has faced “real-life threats to his reputation, livelihood and life,” and warned those responsible, saying, “there will be consequences, and every appropriate measure will be pursued to hold them accountable, including legally. Law enforcement has been notified.”
“As a family, [Lindsay and Patrick Clancy] were very, very, very happy that summer of ’22,” Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday when asked about Patrick Clancy’s statement. “And then she had the postpartum depression that struck.”
Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial came after seven days of jury deliberation; the jury foreperson reported that one juror refused to follow the law on reasonable doubt, leaving the panel at an impasse. Speaking immediately after the mistrial was declared, Reddington said the single juror “robbed” the rest of the panel: “[He] stole seven weeks of the lives of these other jurors who were so attentive.” Speaking Tuesday, Reddington defended his outburst.
“The reason I was upset — I would defend that individual’s right to be a holdout forever,” Reddington said. “That’s part of our judicial system, and I respect that and I would certainly defend his right to do that. What I was upset about was after that lengthy trial and the work that everyone put into this case, including these jurors who spent almost two months away from their home, their job, their family, where a gentleman had an opinion, not that he was sticking like the movie ‘Twelve Angry Men,’ but in fact had agreed according to the note from the forelady that he had doubt but he would not apply the law of reasonable doubt as presented by the judge. That’s not right and that’s why I was upset.”
Lindsay Clancy is expected to stand trial on the same charges, unless Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz agrees to amend them. “I hope,” Reddington said, “after sitting through this trial and seeing the evidence that was presented from the government, as well as from the defense, that he would revisit that issue and hopefully we’d be able to work something out that would be acceptable to both sides.”
While Reddington told ABC he hoped President Donald Trump would agree to pardon his client if all else failed, that would not be legally possible, as the president has the authority to pardon only those convicted of federal crimes. If Lindsay Clancy were convicted, the governor of Massachusetts would have the option to pardon her.
Lindsay Clancy is due to return to court for a hearing on Sept. 29 that will determine the timeline and next steps in her case.
