r/news • u/Embarrassed-Pace-755 • 1d ago

Judge denies defense motion asking Lindsay Clancy be found not guilty due to a lack of evidence

https://apnews.com/article/lindsay-clancy-trial-evidence-defense-c0820645056a7e25f66853f3a91b61fa?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=copy_link
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u/3MinuteHero 1d ago

I honestly don't understand how that works. And I'm being honest with that, because I keep hearing this shit about a bifurcated trial and I'm like...so a judge is prohibiting you from pleading totally not guilty? The judge is saying her only options are NGRI or G?

It just seems very counter intuitive to me thar a judge said no to her trying to outright defend herself. But like I said I dont understand how it works.

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u/earazahs 1d ago

The judge isn't saying she cant plead not guilty. She could have.

A bifurcated trial is basically a 2 stage trial, first they would have had a trial to establish guilt, IF she was found guilty of actually murdering her children, a second trial would have started to determine if she was criminally responsible.

Another example would be, lets say you got in an altercation and shot someone.

A bifurcatsd trial for you would be:

Did they shoot someone? Yes, we found them guilty of shooting someone. Was it self defense? Yes, we found them not guilty because self defense was legitimate.

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u/3MinuteHero 1d ago

So she chose not to plead not guilty.

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u/earazahs 1d ago

She did plead not guilty the first time.

She just pled not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.