On Tuesday morning in Plymouth, Kevin Reddington stood up and asked a judge where the evidence was that Lindsay Clancy killed her three children. “This entire case is based on speculation,” he said. “Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?”
There is a document with Lindsay Clancy’s name on it, filed in a Massachusetts court eight months ago, that says it in so many words. It is her own lawsuit.
What her lawsuit says
Clancy’s First Amended Complaint and Jury Demand was filed January 27, 2026 in Norfolk Superior Court, Lindsay M. Clancy v. Jennifer A. Tufts, M.D., et al., No. 2682CV00081. We read all 29 pages. It is signed by her lawyer Rosemary Curran Scapicchio. It names eight defendants: psychiatrists Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Dr. Alia Goodheart and Dr. Zobeida Diaz, nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta, Aster Mental Health, South Shore Health System, McLean Hospital, and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. (Boston.com has reported the case now has eleven defendants; the version we reviewed has eight.)
The complaint does not hedge about what happened on January 24, 2023:
“Lindsay proceeded to strangle each of her children, uttering ‘Go to God, baby.’ Following these acts, she undertook a severe suicide attempt, ingesting a substantial quantity of various medications, self-inflicting lacerations to her wrists and neck, and jumping from a second-floor window approximately twenty feet to the ground below.” (Paragraph 81.)
Its introduction says she faces “the unbearable grief of waking up every day knowing she killed her children.” Its damages claim includes “emotional distress, including the knowledge that she killed her children.”
It also gives her account of the afternoon. According to paragraphs 77 to 80, the voice had been saying “You should harm the children”; she asked Patrick about takeout and “looked at a map to see how long it would take because she did not want to be alone and needed help”; and as soon as he left, a “loud, demanding, repetitious voice” said, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself.” She describes a “dissociative ‘dream-like state'” in which she was “watching [herself] do it.”
What Reddington argued Tuesday
Reddington’s renewed Rule 25 motion asks for a finding of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. But in court, he went further, arguing first that the Commonwealth never proved she killed the children at all. From our transcript of the hearing:
- “Where is the evidence that she did this?”
- “This entire case is based on speculation. Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?”
- “In Massachusetts, an uncorroborated statement of the defendant obviously is not evidence. You have to have corroboration.”
- “There is, there was and there cannot be evidence under the Latimore standard that this woman killed those children.”
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called it “a laughable argument,” and told the judge it was the first time the defense had challenged whether Clancy committed the killings. During trial, she said, the defense objected to the Commonwealth’s evidence of the killings “because the defendant admits the defendant stipulates.”
Does the lawsuit matter to the criminal case?
To the pending motion: probably not. A Rule 25 motion is decided on the evidence the jury heard. The Commonwealth’s written opposition asks the judge to evaluate “the evidence presented at trial.” We have seen no report that the civil complaint was introduced at trial, and the prosecution relied on other evidence, including DNA on the ends of the exercise bands, her statements to a hospital chaplain, and her phone records.
At a retrial: possibly. Under Massachusetts evidence law, a statement “offered against an opposing party” is not hearsay if it “was made by the party,” is one the party “manifested that it adopted or believed to be true,” or “was made by a person whom the party authorized to make a statement on the subject” (Mass. G. Evid. § 801(d)(2)). A complaint filed in the party’s name by her lawyer, seeking money because she killed her children, is the kind of statement prosecutors could try to use. Whether a judge would admit it, and in what form, would be a contested question, and defense lawyers would have arguments about pleadings drafted by counsel and about unfair prejudice.
The bigger problem is consistency. The civil theory is that she did it because her doctors failed her. The insanity defense is that she did it while psychotic. Both begin with the same fact. The new argument that there is no evidence she did it is in tension with both, and with her own lawsuit seeking damages for having done it. Reddington did not mention the lawsuit in the portion of the hearing we transcribed.
Where the civil cases stand
- Lindsay Clancy’s suit (Norfolk No. 2682CV00081) seeks damages for her injuries, including permanent paralysis, loss of consortium with her children and her spouse, and punitive damages “as allowed by law.” It alleges the providers failed to diagnose bipolar disorder with postpartum onset and subjected her to “a disorganized, uncoordinated course of polypharmacy.” Several providers have demanded a medical malpractice tribunal, according to Boston.com, and no hearing was scheduled as of September 10.
- Patrick Clancy’s wrongful death suit against Tufts, Jollotta, Aster and South Shore Health has a hearing on the defendants’ motion to dismiss on October 28. The providers rely on the state’s duty-to-warn statute, G.L. c. 123, § 36B. Patrick’s lawyers say Lindsay will testify at a deposition that she told her providers she had thoughts of harming the children.
That last point is the other collision. A deposition is sworn testimony. Any account Lindsay Clancy gives under oath in the civil case, while a criminal retrial is possible, is testimony prosecutors could seek to use. Our full explainer on both suits, the tribunal and the damages cap.
Frequently asked questions
Did Lindsay Clancy admit killing her children in her lawsuit?
Her First Amended Complaint, filed January 27, 2026 in Norfolk Superior Court and signed by her lawyer, states that “Lindsay proceeded to strangle each of her children, uttering ‘Go to God, baby,'” and seeks damages including for “the knowledge that she killed her children.”
What did Kevin Reddington argue on September 29?
That the Commonwealth never proved Clancy killed her children, and separately that it never proved she was criminally responsible. “Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?” he said. Prosecutors called the first argument “a laughable argument.”
Can a civil lawsuit be used against a defendant in a criminal trial?
A party’s own statements, including those made through someone authorized to speak for her, can be offered against her under Mass. G. Evid. section 801(d)(2). Whether statements in a lawyer-drafted complaint would be admitted in a criminal retrial is a question a judge would decide.
Who is Lindsay Clancy suing?
The complaint we reviewed names Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Dr. Alia Goodheart, Dr. Zobeida Diaz, Rebecca Jollotta, Aster Mental Health, South Shore Health System, McLean Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. Boston.com has reported eleven defendants in the current case.
Sources: First Amended Complaint and Jury Demand, Lindsay M. Clancy v. Jennifer A. Tufts, M.D., et al., Norfolk Superior Court No. 2682CV00081, filed January 27, 2026, read in full (scanned copy published by Fox News; text by optical character recognition). Our transcript of the September 29, 2026 hearing. Commonwealth’s opposition to the Rule 25 motion, filed September 28, 2026. Boston.com, September 10, 2026. Massachusetts Guide to Evidence section 801 read at mass.gov. The allegations in the complaint are the plaintiff’s; the providers deny negligence. Lindsay Clancy is presumed innocent of the criminal charges. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.