If jurors find Lindsay Clancy not criminally responsible for strangling her three children, her civil commitment to a mental institution could come up for review every year — making it difficult to predict how long she could remain hospitalized, according to a retired judge.
Clancy would not face “a ‘life sentence in a public mental hospital,'” Carol Erskine, a retired Massachusetts judge and child welfare advocate, wrote in a post on X. “She could remain hospitalized for many years — even indefinitely — but only as long as the legal criteria for civil commitment continue to be met.”
The first move is in the trial judge’s hands, Erskine later told Fox News Digital.
“The initial aspect of what happens is an order by the judge,” she said. “If the judge so orders it, a 40-day evaluation in a locked unit.”
After that, there would be an evaluation and hearing on whether she should be committed for further.
“If the recommendation is for a civil commitment because there’s likelihood of serious harm under the statute, then there would be a commitment for a period of six months,” she said. “And that would, again, be in a locked unit.”
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Beyond that, Clancy would be up for review every year to determine whether there is still a likelihood of serious harm and if she should still be committed to a mental institution, she said.
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“It’s really impossible to say how long she would be committed if she’s committed because it all depends on if she is initially committed [and] these yearly evaluations,” Erskine said.
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After the evaluation, the facility’s superintendent could recommend discharge. If there is a petition to discharge, the district attorney’s office and Clancy’s defense attorney can be heard in court.
That’s just one potential outcome as jurors, who began deliberating Thursday, weigh Clancy’s fate.
Clancy is charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, who was 8 months old. Jurors could find her guilty of first- or second-degree murder, manslaughter, or not criminally responsible via the insanity defense.
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Investigators have said that after strangling them with exercise bands, she attempted to kill herself by cutting herself and jumping out a second-floor window. The resulting injuries have left her paralyzed.
But her limited mobility is likely not going to be a factor when she is evaluated for her potential for harm in the future, Erskine said.
“I don’t think it would play a huge role in how they evaluate whether she has a mental illness that creates a likelihood of serious harm because we’re talking about serious harm to herself as well,” she explained.
