Lindsay Clancy will not learn right away whether she faces a second murder trial. The judge overseeing her case has scheduled another hearing for later this month to sort out what comes next.

Judge William Sullivan set a brief status hearing for 10 AM Eastern on November 16. He said no arguments will be heard that day. He also suggested a new trial could land in March 2027 but took the timing question under advisement.

Clancy's lawyer Kevin Reddington pressed for a trial this spring instead. "I am not going to have this woman incarcerated for the next year or two or three," he told the court. He also asked Sullivan to stay on the case.

A tense morning in court

The hearing grew heated at times. Reddington clashed with the judge while arguing that the lone juror who held out had his phone during deliberations. Massachusetts rules bar jurors from using phones or going online for news and social media while they deliberate.

In September her first trial collapsed into a mistrial because that one holdout kept the panel from agreeing on a verdict. Her defense has since asked the court to dismiss the case. Prosecutors oppose that request and want to try her again.

A shift in the defense

At the first trial Reddington did not dispute that Clancy killed her children. He argued she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis at the time. Since the mistrial he has taken a different line and now argues the evidence does not show that she was the person who killed them.

Prosecutors accuse Clancy of strangling her kids in January 2023. Cora was 5 while Dawson was 3 and baby Callan was 8 months old. They say she then leapt from a second-story window. She has been unable to move her legs since that fall. She has pleaded not guilty.

Her lawyers describe her state of mind

Ahead of the hearing another of her attorneys, Rosemary Scapicchio, said in an interview that Clancy has been under suicide watch. "She doesn't want to be here," Scapicchio said. Scapicchio said Clancy longs to be with her kids and has "horrible dreams" about what happened.

Clancy remains in a psychiatric facility in Massachusetts. Separately she has sued 11 medical professionals who she claims failed to give her proper psychiatric care before the deaths. Those defendants dispute her claims.

Anyone who is struggling or in crisis can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Online chat is available at 988lifeline.org.