US President Donald Trump has responded to a public appeal from the lawyer of Lindsay Clancy, who asked him to pardon his client following a mistrial in her murder case.
Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children in 2023, had her trial declared a mistrial on September 4 after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had appealed to Trump during a television interview, asking the president to consider granting Clancy a pardon. He argued that she had been suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.
However, Trump said the case was a state matter rather than a federal one, meaning he does not have the constitutional authority to pardon Clancy for the state charges.
Speaking to reporters in Ireland, Trump described the case as “very sad” and said there was “no winner” because three children had died.
Asked whether he would contact Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz, who is considering whether to retry the case, Trump praised Reddington as a good lawyer and said he hoped the parties could work something out.
Clancy’s defense has acknowledged that she killed her three children but argued that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis.
The prosecution, however, argued that the killings were deliberate and that Clancy should be held accountable.
The district attorney has not yet announced whether Clancy will face a retrial. Her next court hearing is scheduled for September 29.
