Trump Declines Lindsay Clancy Pardon Request, Calls Case a 'State Situation'

Since the mistrial was declared September 4 after the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal, Lindsay Clancy's legal team has taken its fight public, and President Trump has now weighed in twice.

Attorney Kevin Reddington appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and asked Trump directly to pardon his client. "Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady. The type of person she is, what she has been through, and consider a pardon," Reddington said, according to The Guardian. Reddington acknowledged, per his interview with WBZ-TV, that Trump has no actual authority to pardon Clancy because she's charged in Massachusetts state court, not federally.

Trump responded Sunday, telling reporters the case is a "state situation" that he won't touch. "There's no winner there. There's no win no matter what you do. Three children are dead," he said, according to Fox News and WFMD. He called Reddington "a good attorney" and said he hopes Clancy's defense and prosecutors "can work it out."

This wasn't Trump's first comment on the case. Earlier, he said Clancy would still have to "pay the price" for the deaths, predicting the outcome would land somewhere between "a mental institution or jail or something."

Plea Deal on the Table

Beyond the pardon request, Reddington told CNN he's open to negotiating with Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz rather than pushing straight to a retrial. "I'm willing to listen to Tim. I've known Tim for 30 years. He's a very hard-charging prosecutor, a conservative gentleman," Reddington said, adding he hopes Cruz will "revisit" the first-degree murder charges after watching how the first trial unfolded.

Cruz's office has not said whether it will retry Clancy, and it declined to comment on Reddington's interview, per CNN. Cruz said Friday after the mistrial that his office's focus remains "getting justice for those three little babies."

Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu told Fox News Digital a plea deal would be a "good idea" and in the public's "interest," but he predicted prosecutors will again pursue a first-degree murder conviction rather than settle.

CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said a plea deal would likely mean Clancy accepts criminal responsibility in exchange for a lighter sentence that accounts for her mental state, allowing her to "get the help she needs to get better one day." CNN trial correspondent Jean Casarez said Reddington's openness to a deal signals he doesn't want a second trial, even after his initial post-mistrial claim that he "crushed" the prosecution.

The Case Itself Hasn't Changed

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, faces three counts of first-degree murder for strangling her children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, in the family's Duxbury home in January 2023. She has never disputed killing them. After the killings she attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Her defense rests on postpartum psychosis. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick testified for the defense that Clancy was "frankly psychotic" and "clearly psychotic on that day," citing a history of severe depression and anxiety that worsened after childbirth, according to The Guardian. Prosecutors countered that Clancy acted with planning, including arranging for her husband to be out of the house, and argued she understood what she was doing.

The Guardian noted a precedent for outside political pressure altering a state case: in June, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted early release to Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted in state court, after pressure from Trump. That case is not identical. Peters received clemency from a state governor, not a presidential pardon, but it's the kind of comparison Reddington's team may be counting on when it argues public and political sympathy can still move a case even without a formal pardon power.

What Reddington's compassion argument doesn't address is the position of the children's father. Patrick Clancy told 911 dispatchers the night of the killings, "She killed the kids." His attorney has commented publicly since the mistrial, though what he said about a potential plea deal or retrial has not been fully reported.

Cruz's office has given no timetable for a decision on retrying Clancy. Until he decides, Clancy remains charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and no plea agreement has been filed with the court.