The woman whose case has focused national attention on postpartum psychosis is seeking to avoid another trial. Massachusetts woman Lindsay Clancy, who was found by 11 of 12 jurors to lack criminal responsibility in the killings of her three young children, has hired high-profile Boston attorney Martin Weinberg to argue that trying her again would violate double jeopardy protections, Fox News reports. A mistrial was declared earlier this month when the jury in Clancy’s murder trial was unable to reach a unanimous verdict after seven days of deliberations. After the trial, jurors said the lone holdout acknowledged reasonable doubt but refused to vote that Clancy was not guilty by reason of insanity.
Weinberg waged a similar but unsuccessful fight in the case of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend. The court denied Weinberg’s request to dismiss charges, but Read was later acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter, WCVB reports. In Clancy’s case, Weinberg has entered a limited appearance to file a dismissal motion, with a hearing expected Sept. 29. The filing states that he will represent Clancy in connection with the motion and related matters.
Prosecutors typically can retry defendants after a hung jury, but Clancy’s team says the specifics of the mistrial make a second trial improper. Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, has admitted killing 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan before trying to take her own life in 2023. She remains held at a state hospital and prosecutors have not said whether they will try to put her on trial again, the AP reports.