US President Donald Trump has implied he will not offer Lindsay Clancy a pardon after her trial ended in a hung jury. The Massachusetts mother, 36, was on trial for the January 2023 killings of her three children: Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months. After six weeks, 35 hours of deliberation, and over 80 witnesses, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision and declared a mistrial.
Trump's response to the pardon plea
Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had made the plea to Trump to consider a pardon, claiming one juror was unable to be swayed towards a not-guilty verdict. 'It’s a very sad situation,' Trump told reporters Sunday, according to the New York Post. 'I certainly heard that, but look, it’s very sad. There is no winner there. There’s no win no matter what you do. Three children are dead.'
However, despite the defence lawyer’s initial comments on Good Morning America, a pardon is not something Trump is able to offer in this case. The Clancy trial is 'actually a state situation, not a federal' so the US President does not have legal authority to grant a pardon.
Defence lawyer's appeal
On CBS Boston, Reddington shared: 'If President Trump feels that this is a case that warrants that type of intervention from the executive branch, if you will — even though, legally, it’s not a federal case — he certainly has an awful lot of clout. I think any type of help that we can get is helpful.'
Trump noted he believed Reddington to be 'a very good attorney' and said he 'hopes [those involved in the case] can work something out'.
Details of the case
Clancy has not denied that she killed her children by strangulation before attempting to take her own life, which has left her paralysed from the waist down. Her defence has instead claimed she was in a state of postpartum psychosis when the crimes took place, and therefore was not criminally responsible for her actions. Symptoms of postpartum psychosis — which is treated as a medical emergency — include insomnia, delusions, hallucinations, severe confusion, and dangerous thoughts regarding self-harm, suicide, or harming the infant.
She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but the prosecution has argued that while she was suffering from depression, she still made a calculated decision to kill her children. They also alleged that Clancy deliberately sent her ex-husband and father of her children, Patrick Clancy, out on an errand at the time of the killings so that she was free to commit the crimes.
What happens next
Before the mistrial, Trump said the case was 'hard not to follow' and called it a 'horrible tragedy'. 'Look, she did a horrible, horrible thing. Can’t be worse, but you’ll find out what the price to pay is. But I guess they gotta go through another trial. It’s too bad,' he concluded.
It’s not known if the case will be tried again, with Clancy facing years in a state-run hospital should she be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
