Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington said Tuesday that he hopes President Trump considers a pardon for his client, after a Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in her murder trial for killing her three young children.
“Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady and the person she is, what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” he said on “Good Morning America.”
The plea for a presidential pardon has one major problem: the president can only pardon federal crimes and has no power over state-level charges, such as Ms. Clancy’s.
In Massachusetts, the governor has the power to grant a pardon for state crimes, but only after the Massachusetts Advisory Board of Pardons reviews the petition and makes a recommendation. Even then, any pardon the governor decides to grant requires the additional advice and consent of the Governor’s Council before it can take effect.
Mr. Trump has been following the trial.
“It’s on television so much, it’s hard not to follow it,” he said last week. “Look, she did a horrible, horrible thing. Can’t be worse. But you’ll find out what the price to pay is. There’ll be a price. It’s going to be a mental institution or jail or something, but I guess they’re going to go through another trial. It’s too bad.”
The judge declared a mistrial last week when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The jury deliberated for seven days on whether Ms. Clancy was criminally responsible or not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
Ms. Clancy admitted to strangling her three children — 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and infant son Callan — in January 2023 at their Massachusetts home. However, her defense argued she was suffering from unmanaged postpartum psychosis and overmedication, rendering her unable to control her actions or tell right from wrong.
The prosecution said the killings were intentional, calculated and premeditated. But that did not stop a wave of public support for Ms. Clancy, including rallies held on her behalf and a GoFundMe for her parents that has raised more than $1 million.
First-degree murder charges against Ms. Clancy remain active. Prosecutors have the option of retrying the case, making a plea deal or dropping the charges.
She was returned to a state hospital for ongoing psychiatric care. She is paralyzed from the waist down from injuries suffered when she threw herself out of a second-story window after killing her children.
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