Copyright The Boston Globe
Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury woman accused of killing her three young children in 2023, is seeking a change of venue for her upcoming murder trial, records show. Kevin J. Reddington, a lawyer for Clancy, filed a motion in Plymouth Superior Court on Monday seeking to move the trial, currently slated to begin Feb. 9, to Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. “The allegations on the charges are violent and intriguing and they certainly have been portrayed in a fashion in the media so as to guarantee extensive, exploitive prejudicial publicity,” Reddington wrote. He said the “print and electronic media have shown no responsible concern for the defendant’s constitutional guarantee of a fair trial,” calling the extensive publicity “overwhelmingly inflammatory and prejudicial.” Advertisement Reddington said there’s a “reasonable likelihood” that potential Plymouth County jurors “will not be impartial.” Reddington has previously stated an intent to assert a defense at trial commonly known as the insanity defense, arguing that Clancy’s mental health condition at the time of the killings made her unable to conform her behavior to the law. Should she be found not guilty by reason of insanity, Clancy would be housed in a state psychiatric hospital where she would come up for periodic reviews to determine whether she can be released. Clancy, 35, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. After the killings, Clancy cut herself and jumped out of a second-floor window of the family’s home, officials said. She survived the fall but remains paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, Reddington told the court in September. Advertisement Clancy is being held at Tewksbury Hospital, where she continues to undergo mental health treatment, records show. Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office alleges that she strangled the children after sending her husband, Patrick, out to pick up a takeout order. In asking for Clancy to be held without bail during her October 2023 arraignment, prosecutors said that seven medications were detected in blood samples taken from Clancy in the hours after the fatal attacks, which she allegedly perpetrated with exercise bands. Clancy was suffering from postpartum depression at the time and was overmedicated, the defense has said. “In light of the extensive media coverage in this case, the prejudicial information contained in the media coverage, the continuous nature of the coverage and the community disapproval the coverage has evoked, the unavoidable conclusion is that Lindsay Clancy cannot be given a fair trial in Plymouth County,” Reddington wrote. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
