The judge overseeing Lindsay Clancy’s criminal case is considering a defense request to split her trial into two phases, a move that appears to have little to no precedent in Massachusetts or nationwide.
Clancy’s defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, wants to conduct her trial in two parts, with the first addressing the issue of criminal liability and the second concerning criminal responsibility.
Clancy is charged with three counts each of first-degree murder and strangulation or suffocation in connection with the January 2023 deaths of her three young children. If Reddington gets his way, the first part of the trial would address whether prosecutors proved Clancy killed her children and to what degree. The next phase would address whether Clancy had a mental illness or defect that prevented her from understanding she was committing a crime, as her defense has said was the case…