Lindsay Clancy's Defense Has An Option That Changes Everything

Sep 04, 08:00 PM
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If a mistrial is declared in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, the next chapter is not automatic. The defense has options, the DA has a decision to make, and the timeline could stretch months while Clancy remains at Tewksbury State Hospital.

The option that has received the least public attention: Massachusetts allows a defendant to waive the right to a jury trial. Kevin Reddington could ask for a bench trial—putting the entire case before a single judge instead of twelve jurors. In a case where the impasse appears to be twelve people's inability to resolve a dispute between psychiatric experts, a bench trial eliminates the problem.

Reddington also has the bifurcation motion he filed pretrial and lost. A hung jury gives him stronger ground to renew it. If granted, a retrial would separate the guilt question Clancy has conceded from the criminal responsibility question the jury could not resolve.

The DA's decision is not simple either. Plymouth County DA Timothy Cruz charged first-degree murder. That charge mandates a jury trial unless the defendant waives it. Cruz has shown no willingness to reduce the charges. A retrial means the same eighty-plus witnesses return to the stand.

Massachusetts history points in one direction. After Karen Read's first trial hung, the DA retried within months. After Emanuel Lopes hung, the state tried again and convicted.

Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis walks through the bench trial, the bifurcation motion, the retrial timeline, and how the depth of the jury's impasse factors into what happens next.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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