A retired Massachusetts Superior Court judge has warned that a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict would not guarantee Lindsay Clancy's release, as her future confinement would largely depend on "prosecution-aligned" mental health officials rather than a simple acquittal. Clancy, 36, is on trial for three counts of first-degree murder over the January 2023 strangling deaths of her three young children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, and the case is being watched closely given the rarity and severity of an insanity defence in such circumstances.

Retired Judge Jack Lu told Fox News Digital that officials reviewing any commitment tend to side with prosecutors and could keep Clancy institutionalised indefinitely, with release only achievable through a contested court hearing before a judge. He drew a parallel with Constance Fisher, a Maine woman committed after drowning her three children in 1954, who was later released, reoffended in 1967, and was eventually found dead after escaping custody. Meanwhile, the Clancy jury — nine women and three men, led by a female foreperson — ended a third day of deliberations on Monday without reaching a verdict, and was due to resume on Tuesday morning.