Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy and the father who discovered his three children’s bodies in 2023, said through an attorney that the idea of a new trial after a mistrial was declared last week is “extraordinarily painful.”
Lindsay Clancy’s trial ended Friday without a verdict after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether the Massachusetts mother was criminally responsible for killing Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months, on Jan. 24, 2023.
“Patrick Clancy is grateful to the Court and to the jurors for their hard work, their commitment, and their perseverance. The loss of Patrick’s children is something from which he will never recover and from which there will never be closure,” attorney David Meier said in a statement on Patrick Clancy’s behalf.
“The prospect of reliving this tragedy through another trial is extraordinarily painful — for Patrick, for his family, and for all of us,” the statement continued.
The mistrial means prosecutors can retry the case before a new jury. Jurors in the first trial deliberated for seven days, later writing in a note to the court that they could not reach a verdict because one juror did not agree with the other 11.
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, fought against a mistrial, asking for a final emergency appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Reddington argued that the holdout juror was “biased and refusing to follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt.”
Judge William Sullivan gave the defense attorney time to file the appeal, but the emergency appeal was denied by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt, according to CBS News Boston.
With the mistrial declared, Lindsay Clancy will return to Tewksbury Hospital, the psychiatric facility where she has been held for the past three years, to await next steps in the case.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz spoke to reporters outside the courthouse, saying there wouldn’t be an immediate decision on whether to seek a second trial.
“I understand that this has been an emotional trial for everyone,” said Cruz, who added that as a father and grandfather, he couldn’t imagine the heartache and grief the families have endured. “This was and has always been about getting justice for those beautiful babies. Children were murdered, and it’s our job to seek justice.”
Lindsay Clancy was on trial for strangling her three children to death with exercise bands on Jan. 24, 2023, at their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home. She then attempted to kill herself by jumping out of a window.
While her defense did not argue that anyone other than Lindsay Clancy was responsible for the children’s deaths, they claimed she was suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis at the time.
Prosecutors argued Lindsay Clancy planned to kill her children, noting that she sent her husband to pick up takeout and stop by the pharmacy before killing them and attempting suicide.
Patrick Clancy was the first witness to testify in the trial and took the stand in July.
During his testimony, Patrick Clancy recalled finding his wife injured and bleeding after she jumped from the second-story window of their home. Lindsay Clancy allegedly told him she had tried to end her life and that their children were in the basement — but she didn’t tell him she had killed them.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard a recording of Patrick Clancy’s 911 call, capturing the moment the father discovered the bodies of the three children who had been strangled to death with exercise bands.
Patrick Clancy has said in interviews since the deaths that he forgives his ex-wife, saying she was ill at the time.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
