Lindsay Clancy lawyer questions whether she killed her three children

Lindsay Clancy and her legal team have returned to court in Massachusetts, arguing that authorities failed to prove she killed her children.

The hearing on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) was the first since the murder trial of Clancy – accused of killing her three young children – ended in a mistrial in September.

Her lawyer Kevin Reddington put to the court there was not enough evidence to prove she killed them, reports The Associated Press.

“This entire case is based on speculation,”  he said.

It was a striking turn in the case since Clancy’s trial ended on September 4 in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury.

During the trial, Reddington didn’t dispute that Clancy killed the children at the family’s home in 2023. Instead, the defence sought to persuade the jury that the 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse was not criminally responsible because of mental disease, a rare condition called postpartum psychosis.

But at Tuesday’s hearing, Reddington sought to persuade Judge William Sullivan – the same judge who presided over the first trial – to acquit Clancy.

Reddington argued there was not enough evidence “that this woman killed those children”.

He pointed to matters ranging from her condition when she was found, badly injured and bleeding in the yard outside her home, to her lack of memory of what happened when she woke up in a hospital.

He didn’t offer any alternative theories or evidence about who might be responsible.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called his argument “laughable,” pointing to various evidence raised during the trial. In court papers filed on Monday, prosecutors recapped their arguments that there was enough evidence to convict Clancy.

The prosecution maintains that Clancy knew her actions were wrong when she used exercise bands to strangle five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan Clancy.

They said she contrived to get her husband out of the house that evening by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

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Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to retry Clancy.

She remains charged with murder and is expected to stay at a psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved.

Clancy could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted of murder. If acquitted, the judge could have ordered her confined to a mental health facility.