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A retired Massachusetts Superior Court judge says a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity would not amount to a simple path to freedom for Lindsay Clancy, noting that the decision over any future release would rest largely with “prosecution doctors” who may be more likely to keep her confined.
Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan — all of whom were under 6 years old when they were found strangled inside the family’s home in January 2023.
Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu told News Outlet that even if Clancy is acquitted by reason of insanity, she would still likely spend a substantial period of time in a mental health institution.
Lindsay Clancy and her attorney Kevin Reddington arrive for day 3 of deliberations in her murder trial. (Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger via AP)
Lu said a panel of mental health officials would periodically evaluate her continued commitment. However, he emphasized that those officials often work closely with prosecutors and frequently testify for the state.
The empty Plymouth Superior Court jury box during the Lindsay Clancy murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, Plymouth, Mass., on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger via AP)
“They’re viewed as an arm of the prosecution,” Lu said. “I’m going to be very frank, they kind of view this through the lens of if in doubt, lock them up…The people making release decisions have a prosecutorial mindset.”
Lu said, if Clancy is committed to a mental hospital, “I imagine she’d be committed year after year after year for some period of time.”
“If you are committed on a mental health basis because of a major criminal case in Massachusetts, it is hard to get out… It is very difficult,” he said.
He said there is another way for Clancy to be released from a mental institution if found not guilty by reason of insanity, which would be through the courts.
“The other way she could get out is if the government kept moving to commit her and the doctors did not really decide that she should be released, and then it goes to court and then a judge would decide whether she is a danger to herself or others,” Lu said. “It could be more of a contested hearing, and if she were to win that contested hearing, that is the second way that she gets out.”
Lindsay Clancy arrived for day 3 of deliberations. (Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger via AP)
Clancy’s case has drawn parallels with Constance Fisher, a then-24-year-old Maine woman who drowned her three children in a bathtub in 1954, according to the New York Times.
She was committed to a mental hospital, and after several years, she returned home. She was accused of drowning three more children in 1967 and was sent back to the mental hospital, before she escaped and was found dead in the Kennebec River.
Callan, left, Dawson and Cora Clancy. The three children were killed at their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023. (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)
The jury in Clancy’s case, consisting of nine women and three men, led by a female foreperson, concluded a third day of deliberations on Monday without coming to a verdict.
The jurors asked Judge William Sullivan around 4 p.m. to be dismissed for the day, and will return on Tuesday morning to continue deliberations.
