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Jurors are deciding whether the mother who admits strangling her three children was legally insane, guilty of murder, or responsible for a lesser homicide.
The jury deciding Lindsay Clancy’s fate ended its first day of deliberations Thursday without reaching a verdict. The panel will return at 9 a.m. today to continue weighing whether the former labor and delivery nurse should be held criminally responsible for strangling her three children inside the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023.
There is no dispute over who killed Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. Clancy has admitted killing them. Her defense says postpartum psychosis left her unable to understand or control what she was doing, while prosecutors spent the trial arguing that the evidence instead showed planning, awareness and deliberate action. They also attacked Clancy’s credibility, arguing that parts of her account changed and could not be trusted.
Jurors have several possible paths. First-degree murder would mean life without parole, while second-degree murder carries life with the possibility of parole. They may also consider manslaughter. At the other end of the spectrum, they could find Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, potentially sending her into the state mental-health system rather than prison.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington left court sounding confident, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case and describing Clancy as frightened while she waits. The jury now has to decide whether the psychiatric evidence excuses criminal responsibility or whether prosecutors proved that Clancy knew exactly what she was doing when three children died at her hands.
Hot Take
Three children are dead, their killer is known, and the only mystery left is what was happening behind her eyes. The jury has the file now. Somewhere inside those pages is the line between sickness and murder.
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Jake Reiner says losing his parents and seeing his brother accused of killing them has left him living inside an emotional nightmare.
Eight months after Rob and Michele Reiner were murdered, their son Jake has given his first television interview about the deaths and the devastating arrest of his brother Nick. Speaking to Good Morning America, Jake said time has become distorted since December 2025, simultaneously feeling like “eight years” and “eight minutes.”
Jake recalled receiving a call from his sister Romy telling him their father was dead and their mother could not be found. He soon learned Nick was the prime suspect. Jake declined to discuss whether he was surprised by the accusation or how he now feels about his brother, who remains jailed and has attempted to access family trust money for his defense. Jake reportedly testified before the grand jury that indicted Nick.
Instead, he spoke about rage, helplessness and the responsibility he feels to preserve his parents’ legacy. He will represent them at the annual Cape & Gown Gala benefiting the Children’s Institute, a cause they strongly supported. “I will never understand why this happened,” Jake said, adding that his parents never stopped loving or trying to help all three of their children.
Hot Take
Some families lose people. Others lose the whole map. Jake Reiner is walking through wreckage where every door leads back to the same locked room: why?
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The former Danity Kane singer says Sean Combs subjected her to sexual assault, retaliation and terrifying intimidation during years under his control.
Former Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money singer Dawn Richard is continuing her legal battle against Sean “Diddy” Combs after accusing the imprisoned music mogul of sexual assault, battery and years of abusive behavior. Richard alleges Combs entered changing rooms without warning and touched her breasts and buttocks without consent while claiming he was helping shape her image.
Her complaint also describes a chilling December 2010 incident after Richard objected to Combs using degrading language toward women. She alleges Combs swung at her before a bodyguard locked her inside Combs’ Bentley for hours on a freezing night. Richard claims the vehicle had no interior door handles and that she had no coat, phone or heat, leaving her terrified she might never be released.
A federal judge dismissed Richard’s lawsuit in June while describing the alleged conduct as “execrable,” and her attorneys have vowed to continue fighting. Richard previously testified in Combs’ federal criminal case, where he was convicted on prostitution-related charges. He is now serving a 50-month sentence while confronting additional civil and financial litigation.
Hot Take
The velvet rope is long gone now. What remains are witnesses, court files and allegations from people who say the party looked very different once the doors were locked.
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A judge says viewers could reasonably interpret a documentary as implicating Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son in Stephen Smith’s mysterious 2015 death.
Buster Murdaugh’s defamation lawsuit against Netflix can continue after a South Carolina judge rejected the streaming giant’s attempt to have the case dismissed. Murdaugh sued Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and the Hampton County Guardian in 2024 over media coverage linking his name to the 2015 death of Stephen Smith.
The dispute centers partly on documentary material discussing speculation that Murdaugh may have had some connection to Smith’s death. Netflix argued that it merely reported the truthful existence of rumors and theories, making the coverage protected by the First Amendment. Judge Heath Taylor disagreed that the issue could simply be tossed out at this stage.
Taylor wrote that the documentary’s “creative liberties” could reasonably lead viewers to interpret it as providing an answer to questions about Murdaugh’s involvement rather than merely reporting speculation. Murdaugh, who has denied involvement in Smith’s death, claims his reputation has been irreparably damaged and is seeking actual and punitive damages along with legal costs.
Hot Take
Rumors are cheap until somebody puts a camera on them. Then they become evidence in another kind of case, and Netflix just learned the reel can cut both ways.
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The man accused of helping orchestrate Tupac Shakur’s killing stayed off the witness stand after years of his own recorded statements became central evidence.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis will not testify in his own defense at his Tupac Shakur murder trial. His attorneys rested Thursday after calling three former Las Vegas police officers, ending nine days of testimony and setting the stage for closing arguments Monday before jurors begin deliberating.
The decision is significant because prosecutors built much of their case around Davis’ own previous statements about the September 1996 shooting. Defense attorney Michael Sanft has argued that Davis exaggerated his role over the years for publicity and money. Putting him on the stand, however, would have allowed prosecutors to confront him directly with those statements under cross-examination.
Retired homicide detective Dan Long testified that Davis identified the same four men investigators already believed were inside the Cadillac involved in the shooting. Prosecutors say the killing was retaliation after Tupac and others attacked Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson at the MGM Grand and allege Davis helped organize the response and supplied the gun. Davis denies participating. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Hot Take: Keefe D spent years talking about Tupac’s murder. When the courtroom finally offered him the microphone under oath, he left it sitting there. Sometimes silence is the loudest sound in the room.
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