The lawyer for the Massachusetts woman accused of murdering her three children says he hopes to reach an agreement with prosecutors, after the case ended in a mistrial on Friday.
Kevin Reddington told ABC’s Good Morning America programme he was upset a lone member of the jury would not acquit Lindsay Clancy.
To find Clancy guilty, jurors had to be unanimously convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she intentionally killed her children – Cora, Dawson and Callan – and was not experiencing a psychotic break.
On ABC, Reddington also appealed to President Donald Trump to pardon Clancy. However, she is facing state charges, so the power of clemency would lie with the governor of Massachusetts.
“I would hope that you [Trump] would consider this young lady, the type of person she is, what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” Reddington said.
Reddington also said he hoped the district attorney prosecuting the case “would be able to work something out that would be acceptable to both sides”.
The BBC has contacted the district attorney for Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
“I’m willing to listen to Tim,” Reddington said about District Attorney Tim Cruz, calling him a “hard-charging prosecutor”.
The jury – nine women and three men – was weighing a range of options, from not guilty by reason of insanity to manslaughter and first-degree murder.
The 12-member panel appeared to nearly reach a consensus, except for a single holdout who, Reddington said, “would not apply the law of reasonable doubt” as instructed by the judge.
“That’s not right,” he said. “And that’s why I was upset.”
Throughout the trial, prosecutors called dozens of witnesses, including several doctors, seeking to prove Clancy had made a calculated decision to murder her children in the basement of their Massachusetts home in January 2023.
Clancy does not deny killing the three, but says there was no premeditation and she was experiencing psychosis at the time. For her to be convicted of first-degree murder, a jury would have to believe she planned the killings.
