DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The prosecution and defense in Lindsay Clancy’s criminal case have both filed motions that could affect how the case proceeds. On Wednesday, lawyers for Lindsay’s ex-husband Patrick Clancy were also in court for a hearing in his wrongful death suit against the doctors who treated her.
Prosecutors filed a motion opposing Clancy’s request to dismiss the case, saying the court properly declared a mistrial when the jury reported it was deadlocked.
Clancy’s defense argues that the case should be dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. The double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment protects against being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
The defense also filed a motion to oppose a potential gag order that would prohibit them from speaking about the case to the media. It argues prosecutors are asking to protect a jury that does not exist, in a trial that has not been scheduled.
During her trial, prosecutors argued the mother from Duxbury deliberately strangled her three children, who were 8-months-old, 3-years-old, and 5-years-old at the time, with exercise bands. The children’s father found them in the basement after he had gone to pick up a prescription and dinner. Clancy also attempted to stab herself, and jumped out a window of her home. She survived, but is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.
In the trial, her defense claimed she was over-medicated and suffered from severe postpartum depression (PPD) at the time. Her defense did not contest that she killed the children, but argued she should not be held criminally responsible.
A mistrial was declared after the 12 jurors could not come to unanimous consensus.
Also on Wednesday, lawyers representing Clancy’s ex-husband Patrick Clancy appeared in a Dedham court for a hearing in his wrongful death lawsuit against the doctors who treated his ex-wife. Those doctors say during treatment, Clancy never indicated she was going to murder her children. Lawyers for Patrick Clancy say they want justice for the children who lost their lives.
“Nowhere in that 86 page complaint did it ever allege that Mrs. Clancy ever communicated to the defendants that she had thoughts, or an intention, much less an explicit threat, to kill or harm her children in any way,” said Timothy Sweetland, a lawyer for the doctors who treated Clancy.
“This is the opportunity for the children to have a day in court on the civil side to try hold accountable the people who, legally, we contend are responsible for their death,” said Howard Cooper, a lawyer for Patrick Clancy.
The judge in Patrick Clancy’s case took the hearing under advisement.
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