Judge rules on trial delay, venue change requests in Lindsay Clancy case

Listen to this article

The trial of Lindsay Clancy, the 35-year-old Duxbury woman accused in the 2023 deaths of her three young children, has been delayed for a third time.

During a motion hearing on Nov. 18, Plymouth Superior Court Judge William F. Sullivan agreed to defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s request to push the trial to July 20.

Reddington sought a later date because there were several pre-trial matters to address, including an evaluation of Clancy by state doctors and consultations with a toxicologist and psychopharmacologist. Second Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, in concurring with a new trial date, said she had faced delays in getting records to the commonwealth’s experts.

With other trials on their schedules, both Reddington and Sprague also wanted to make sure they dedicated the appropriate amount of time to focus on the Clancy case. The winter and summer holidays were also a consideration, not only for the judge and attorneys, but witnesses and potential jurors as well.

“What I don’t want to do is have a date and we get ready for trial and then somebody says, ‘I’m going to Truro.’ Or, ‘I’m to the Finger Lakes,'” Sullivan said.

The trial was originally set for Dec. 1 before being pushed to Jan. 5, and then to Feb. 6.

Request to move trial denied

Sullivan denied Reddington’s request to change the trial’s venue, adding he would issue a written decision in the coming days.

Reddington pointed to extensive media coverage as the reason to relocate the trial to Suffolk Superior Court. While noting he does not enjoy giving interviews to the news media, Reddington explained an incident when he was “confronted by a sea of reporters” while leaving Clancy’s arraignment and offered comments there.

Sprague, calling Reddington’s motion “disingenuous,” also noted that Reddington gave an interview to The New Yorker.

There is a high bar a case must meet to change venues, and Sprague argued that the Clancy murder trial does not rise to that level. The community is large enough to provide a “large and diverse jury pool” and that there have been no protests or rallies for or against Clancy.

Pretrial media coverage alone is not enough to move a trial, and Sprague added it was highly likely that the potential jury pool in Suffolk County, specifically Boston, would have at least heard about the case. She noted that the media coverage has not been highly prejudicial.

“Local media, even The Patriot Ledger, The Enterprise, can be read by someone in Germany. Everything is everywhere,” Sprague said.

Logistics of Clancy’s in-person appearance

The judge, prosecution, defense and representative for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office discussed how to transport Clancy to court for the trial. She appeared via Zoom from Tewksbury Hospital, where she is being held, on Nov. 18.

She has been paralyzed from the waist down since authorities say she jumped from a second-story window at her home after she strangled her children – 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan – in January 2023.

Jessica Kenny, the sheriff’s office general counsel who was asked by the judge to offer a transportation plan, noted that while Clancy can care for herself and transfer herself in and out of her wheelchair, security and safety were top of mind.

Reddington requested that Clancy be transported by an ambulance. The sheriff’s office suggested that she is transported in a wheelchair van with a corrections office nurse present.

“She should be treated the same as any other defendant and not be given special treatment. She should be given accommodations due to her condition, but not special treatment, and she has those accommodations,” Sprague said.

Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and strangulation.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Judge rules on trial delay, venue change requests in Lindsay Clancy case. What he said

Reporting by Hannah Morse, The Patriot Ledger / The Patriot Ledger

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect