Judge William Sullivan set a hearing for Sept. 29. During that proceeding, defense attorney Kevin Reddington will likely ask the judge to declare Clancy not guilty. It’s a long shot move and very unlikely to succeed.

That hearing could also reveal whether prosecutors will move to put Clancy on trial for a second time. They could also choose to seek a plea deal or even drop the case entirely, though that option is unlikely.

Sullivan suggested that everyone involved in the case, from attorneys to witnesses to court administrators, would need to look at their calendars to find a suitable time for a new trial, if one is held.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

___

Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her children at their home south of Boston, but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. After the killings, her husband found her badly injured in the yard, where she landed after jumping from a second-story window. She was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said there would not be an immediate decision about a second trial, but he emphasized that his goal was always “getting justice for those three little babies.”

“This case was about Lindsay Clancy and what she did … the cruel and calculated killing of three innocents,” Cruz said shortly after court ended on Friday. He later continued, “Children were murdered and it’s our job to seek justice.”

Still, prosecutors typically consider a lot of things when determining whether to retry a case, said New York Law School Professor Heather Ellis Cucolo, including the potential expense and the likely outcome.

“I know the prosecutor stated openly that he would not allow public opinion to sway his decision, which is accurate, but the prosecution serves the public,” Cucolo said. “If it is believed that justice must be served by another trial, that is something the prosecutor’s office will take into account and weigh very heavily.”

A conviction could mean life in prison for Clancy, while an acquittal might lead to confinement in a mental health facility.

Cucolo said the defense attorney will likely push for the charges to be dropped entirely, and might also be open to a plea deal.

“But if the prosecution chooses to move forward with a trial, there's no way to prevent that from happening,” Cucolo said.

Reddington said in court that he believed Clancy's constitutional rights were violated when the judge declined to remove one juror after the other jurors suggested that he was not following the judge's instructions on reasonable doubt. But a mistrial isn't subject to an appeal, Cucolo said, because it's not a final judgment.

The impact on family members is another consideration, said Randy Gioia, a Boston-based defense lawyer who formerly supervised public defenders across the state.

Gioia said prosecutors should not put Clancy through another trial. He said he accepts Reddington’s disclosure that Clancy was extremely close to an acquittal, based on a note presented to the judge by the jury foreperson.

“Why put everyone through the trauma again: 16 to 18 jurors, all the witnesses, Patrick Clancy,” Gioia said, referring to Lindsay Clancy’s former husband. “What’s to be served here when we’ve had a long trial and long deliberations? You don’t have a strong case. You almost lost the case.”