The longshot move by the defense attorney was rebuffed almost as soon as the motion was made.
Though Lindsay Clancy has admitted to causing the deaths of her own children — Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months old!) — the jury is literally still out as to whether she can technically be held responsible for murder.
During today’s testimony, the prosecution ventured onto shaky ground — giving the defense attorney a chance to play the golden ‘mistrial’ card.
For the second time, the prosecutors brought up a line of questioning during witness testimony that delved into Lindsay Clancy’s worldview on God, sin, and who gets to go to heaven.
Specifically, the idea of ‘mortal sin’ came up during the prosecution’s questioning, and the teaching that it can impact one’s ability to make it to heaven.
Without getting too complicated — or bogged down by my own bias — suffice it to say that there are limits to how far the prosecutor could go with that line of questioning in order to push the murder charge… which hinges on proving that Clancy killed her kids premeditatively rather than in a moment of psychosis.
In this clip, a CBS News reporter who was in the courtroom recounts what happened when the motion was made by the defense, and quickly denied by the judge:
Here’s a full screen version of that account for convenience:
Oddly enough, it appears that the defense attorney, Reddington, had reasonable grounds to call for a mistrial a week prior!
And, for the same reason!
He said during today’s proceedings that he made a ‘tactical’ decision not to do so when the prosecutors crossed the same no-go line last week, according to this coverage of the trial from ABC News:
As it turns out, the defense attorney was playing the long game, and likely had no serious expectation that the judge would actually grant a mistrial.
Though, everything I’m hearing from the legal side mostly agrees that the prosecution did venture a little too far in their questioning regarding the Catholic dogma. (Not to be confused with actual Biblical doctrine, I might add — though that would be letting my bias show again, wouldn’t it?)
But the defense attorney was primarily focused on the ‘preservation issue’; basically making sure he put a red flag into the proceedings, thus marking the prosecution’s misstep which might be used against them during a future appeal.
That’s according to a breakdown from Criminal Defense Attorney Donna Rotunno, who gave this explanation of today’s drama in an appearance on Fox News:
That certainly paints today’s proceedings in a much more serious light, considering we’re already fixated on a possible future appeal!
The judge didn’t grant the mistrial today, but he was obviously determined to try to minimize the impact the prosecution’s questioning had on the jury’s thought process.
The judge took several steps to put time and distance between today’s misstep by the prosecution and the continuation of the trial, as reported by the local NBC affiliate out of Boston:
Considering this is now the second time prosecutors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts knowingly brought up issues the judge had already warned them about…
You have to wonder — what are they thinking?
This is already a media circus, complete with boatloads of liberal white women willing to come out in force to DEFEND a woman who confessed to causing the deaths of her own children.
Look, here they are now:
So, the trial will go forward.
But the question in my mind is simply, for how long?
It is not out of the question that the judge could AGREE with the defense’s next opportunity to motion for a mistrial.
If the prosecution continues to make the same unforced errors after multiple warnings, these charges could get even harder to make stick.
And with so many courtrooms and judges giving way to social pressures lately coupled with the outlandish SUPPORT Lindsay Clancy is receiving, I already had my doubts about a murder conviction.
After today, the prosecution could be just one more misstep away from handing the defense a golden ticket to a mistrial.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
