Will Trump ‘Pardon’ Lindsay Clancy?

Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney made a stunning appeal to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, asking him to consider pardoning the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children — even though the president has no authority to wipe away the state murder charges against her.

Clancy’s sensational murder trial ended in a mistrial on Sept. 4 after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict following more than a week of deliberations.

The former labor and delivery nurse is charged with killing her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — inside the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023.

Her defense has never disputed that Clancy killed the children. Instead, attorney Kevin Reddington argued that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for her actions.

Prosecutors presented a sharply different picture, arguing that Clancy was rational, deliberate and legally responsible for the deaths.

The trial came to an explosive halt after the jury deadlocked 11-1, according to a note from the foreperson. Reddington has said the overwhelming majority of jurors favored finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity, while one juror refused to join them.

Days after the mistrial, Reddington appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and delivered a direct message to Trump.

“Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady … what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” Reddington said.

There is one major problem with the request: Trump cannot pardon Clancy for the charges she currently faces.

The Constitution gives presidents clemency power over federal crimes, not crimes prosecuted under state law. Clancy is facing three first-degree murder charges brought by Massachusetts authorities, meaning any presidential pardon would have no legal effect on the case.

Clancy also has not been convicted. The mistrial left the charges against her intact and gives prosecutors the option of putting her before another jury.

Reddington nevertheless used his television appearance to push back against those who have portrayed Clancy as simply “evil,” arguing that there were warning signs that something was seriously wrong before the killings.

He pointed to messages Clancy allegedly sent her mother months earlier asking for help and saying she was sick and “not well.”

The defense spent much of the trial arguing that Clancy’s deteriorating mental condition had not been adequately recognized before the deaths.

The case has become one of the country’s most closely watched criminal trials, drawing intense debate over postpartum mental illness, criminal responsibility and whether Clancy should ever face another jury.

For now, she remains charged with murder and is being held at a psychiatric hospital while the case remains unresolved. A court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29, when prosecutors and the defense could reveal whether Clancy will face a second trial or whether another resolution is possible.