Watch the full video, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney expresses willingness to work out a plea deal, on CNN.

According to the article, in a recent media interview, Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney has expressed a willingness to work out a plea deal for his client.

Attorney Kevin Reddington addressed next steps after the case of the Massachusetts mother who argued she should not be held criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children recently ended in a mistrial.

Reddington expressed interest in cooperating with Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz to “work something out that would be acceptable to both sides.”

“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. “I hope, however, after sitting through this trial and seeing the evidence that was presented from the government, as well as from the defense, that he would revisit that issue.”

Cruz has yet to decide if his office would retry the case, which he said was always focused on “getting justice for those three little babies.”

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on Reddington’s interview.

After a dayslong deadlock, a single holdout juror among the panel’s nine women and three men prevented the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict, an apt conclusion for a complicated and heartbreaking trial that deeply divided the public and sparked a national reckoning on postpartum depression, anxiety and psychosis.

Reddington had initially projected confidence following the mistrial.

When asked if he would do anything different in a retrial, he responded: “Why would I? I won the case.” In light of what he believes to have been the jury’s 11-1 split favoring acquittal, the defense attorney declared he had “crushed” the prosecution.

Reddington recently said he did not regret that statement but conceded he “could have been a little more circumspect dealing with Tim Cruz.”

His willingness to work with the district attorney’s office on a possible plea deal shows Reddington doesn’t want to have a retrial, said Jean Casarez, an attorney and media correspondent who covered the trial. A plea deal, she said, also means a possible conviction for Clancy.

“If you’re in the defense, I think you want to get your client mental health help,” legal analyst Joey Jackson explained. “Yes, you’ll have to accept criminal responsibility on a plea deal, but that would be factored into something that was on the lighter side. But that would provide my client the help she needs to get better one day.”

Reddington has called on President Donald Trump to pardon Clancy. Trump said he has been tracking Clancy’s trial, calling it a “horrible tragedy” and “terrible.”

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

Clancy has not been convicted and remains innocent until proven guilty. Additionally, her case is being tried in state, not federal court, giving the governor of Massachusetts the pardoning power.

A White House official affirmed presidential pardons can only apply to federal convictions.

Discussion Questions

  1. In the context of criminal law, what is a plea deal?

    In criminal law, a plea deal (also known as a plea bargain) is an agreement between a defendant and the prosecution in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a criminal charge in exchange for some benefit from the prosecution. The benefit might include reducing the charge, dismissing other charges, recommending a lighter sentence, or agreeing to specific sentencing terms.

    Generally, the agreement must be presented to and accepted by the court, and the judge is not always required to accept the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation. Plea deals allow defendants to avoid the uncertainty of a trial, while allowing prosecutors to resolve cases without going through a full trial.

  2. In your reasoned opinion, why has defense attorney Reddington announced to the media his willingness to negotiate a plea deal with the prosecution? Should the prosecution negotiate a plea deal for Lindsay Clancy? Why or why not?

    This is an opinion question, so student responses may vary.

    In your author’s opinion, attorney Reddington has announced to the media his willingness to negotiate a plea deal in an attempt to “move the prosecution along”; i.e., to get the prosecution “to the table” to negotiate a plea deal.

    In terms of whether the prosecution should negotiate a plea deal for Lindsay Clancy, that is a matter of prosecutorial discretion. As mentioned previously in this newsletter, prosecutors are often politically motivated, so if the electorate demands that the prosecution “get tough on crime,” prosecutors will often respond in kind. With that being said, plea deals are necessary for the criminal justice system to function. 

    Although plea deals are often perceived as being “weak on crime,” in reality, the criminal justice system would likely collapse without them—roughly two-thirds of criminal cases are resolved through guilty pleas or plea agreements, with the percentage substantially higher in federal court.

  3. As indicated in the article, defense attorney Reddington has requested that President Donald Trump pardon his client. Does the U.S. president have this power, and if so, are there any limitations to it?

    The short answer in this case is “no.” The presidential pardon power is derived from Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” This constitutional provision grants the president pardon power over federal crimes, not state crimes, and the Clancy case was tried in a Massachusetts (Plymouth County) state court.