How Lindsay Clancy’s defense could prepare for a second trial

( NewsNation ) — Preparation for a possible retrial for Lindsay Clancy’s defense team could revolve around continuing the strategy that appeared to sway 11 jurors the first time around.

Prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek a second trial after Clancy’s murder case ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 11-1, the majority reportedly favoring a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Clancy’s defense lawyer Kevin Reddington told CBS News that he plans to file a motion to bar retrial based on double-jeopardy grounds. Outside of him succeeding on that motion, a second trial remains possible.

Immediately following the mistrial, Reddington said, “she’ll be ready, we’ll be ready,” referring to his client going to trial again. He added that he would be ready as soon as next week for another trial.

“Whatever you did, however you portrayed yourself, do the same thing. However you mentally prepared yourself, just do the exact same thing,” Randall Kessler, an adjunct professor at Emory Law School, said when asked how he would prepare Clancy for a retrial.

How Clancy’s first trial could play into a second

Clancy has admitted to killing her three children. The jurors were responsible for determining whether she should be held criminally responsible for their deaths or found not guilty because she was suffering postpartum psychosis.

Throughout the trial, proceedings were repeatedly paused because Clancy became overwhelmed . On the day two medical examiners testified about her children’s autopsies, she broke down, saying aloud, “I can’t do this.”

Kessler said a second trial could be psychologically easier for Clancy because she now knows that most of the first jury accepted her defense.

“I think you just reassure her ‘look at what happened, look what you’ve already been through, what else can they say about you that hasn’t been said?’” the professor added.

He also said he would encourage Clancy to focus on the broader impact of the case, including raising awareness about mental health, medications and problems in the health care system.

Reddington says Clancy is ‘like a daughter’ to him

Reddington said Clancy was “like a daughter” to him when speaking after the mistrial and when asked about Clancy after the hung jury, he simply replied, “She’s not good.”

The defense may have an advantage in a retrial because it has already seen the prosecution’s entire case and knows where its weaknesses are, Kessler said.

Most importantly, the burden of proof remains with prosecutors. The defense does not have to prove its case; it only has to identify weaknesses that create reasonable doubt.

“Whatever they did that worked, they can do more of it,” Kessler added.

He said perhaps the most important change in a second trial would come during jury selection, with the defense able to focus more closely on potential jurors’ views of mental illness and the criminal responsibility defense.

“It’s less important what the argument is than who the argument is being made to,” he added.