Retired judge says ‘prosecution doctors’ could keep Lindsay Clancy locked up if found insane

If convicted by reason of insanity, Lindsay Clancy could face prolonged commitment to a psychiatric facility overseen by mental health officials who often side with prosecutors, retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu told Fox News Digital.

Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan, all under 6 — who were found strangled at the family’s home in January 2023, court records show.

Lu said the group of mental health officials responsible for periodically reviewing her commitment are “viewed as an arm of the prosecution.” “I’m going to be very frank, they kind of view this through the lens of if in doubt, lock them up…The people making release decisions have a prosecutorial mindset,” he told Fox News Digital.

Lu said it would be difficult for Clancy to win release from a hospital and that she could be committed “year after year after year for some period of time.” He added that a second path to release would be a contested court hearing in which a judge must decide whether she remains a danger to herself or others.

Clancy’s case has drawn comparisons to Constance Fisher, a Maine woman who authorities say drowned her three children in 1954 and was committed to a mental hospital before later returning home; the New York Times reported Fisher was accused of killing three more children in 1967 and later died after escaping custody. The jury in Clancy’s trial — nine women and three men, led by a female foreperson — ended a third day of deliberations Monday without a verdict and asked Judge William Sullivan to be dismissed for the day; court proceedings show they will resume Tuesday morning.

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