The widely watched murder trial of Lindsay Clancy concluded Friday after seven days of jury deliberations, resulting in a mistrial. The nearly six-week proceeding drew intense public interest and brought national attention to the three lead attorneys involved.
Clancy, 32, pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the January 24, 2023, strangling deaths of her three young children at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Her daughter Cora, 5, son Dawson, 3, and infant son Callan were found dead at the family residence in the Boston suburb.
Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s defense attorney, argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and had also attempted to take her own life. Assistant District Attorneys Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham of the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office countered that Clancy is criminally responsible for her children’s deaths.
Throughout the trial, every session was broadcast online and on television from Plymouth Superior Court. The coverage turned the attorneys into household names among those following the case.
Reddington, a criminal defense lawyer based in Brockton, represented Clancy personally and sat beside her daily at the defense table. He said he was assisted by his son, Patrick Reddington, who is also an attorney. Reddington told reporters afterward that he did not anticipate the extraordinary level of media attention the case would attract.
“I figured it would have some connection with people dealing with postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, and the medical and psychiatric care,” Reddington said. “I didn’t realize it would be like this.”
Sprague, who has served at the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office since 2003, delivered the prosecution’s closing arguments. She supervises all homicide cases in Plymouth County as Second Assistant District Attorney and has tried 28 homicide cases throughout her career.
Buckingham leads the Family Protection Unit at the same office, where she has worked since 2011. Prior to joining the DA’s office, she spent three months clerking at a law firm focused on civil rights litigation and criminal defense.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz declined Friday to announce whether the state would retry Clancy. He defended his legal team against online harassment, saying the vilification and threats they faced were “disgusting.”
“Threats to them and their families, their addresses being posted, it’s unfortunate that in today’s society professionals are placed at risk for merely doing their jobs,” Cruz said. “It is the facts that ultimately decide how you act, not the opinions of observers several steps removed from our court proceedings.”
All three attorneys are scheduled to appear in court on September 29 to discuss next steps following the mistrial. A special edition of “20/20” titled “The Trial of Lindsay Clancy” aired Friday on ABC.
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