Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney has made a dramatic bid to have the case dismissed, arguing that prosecutors have not shown evidence proving she killed her three children.

The mother of three appeared Tuesday morning in Plymouth County Superior Court, Massachusetts, for the first time since her closely watched murder trial ended in a controversial mistrial earlier this month.

Wearing a short-sleeve blouse and her hair in loose waves, the former nurse sat in a wheelchair at the defense table. Lawyers debated whether she should face a second trial and whether confidential notes from the jury should be made public.

Defense lawyer Kevin Reddington told the court that the prosecution had failed to establish that Clancy killed Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan in January 2023.

“This entire case is based on speculation,” Reddington said. “Where is the admission? Where did she say that she did this?”

Speaking emphatically in the crowded courtroom, he argued that Clancy had been vilified by the public and by political figures, including the president.

Reddington said some people had portrayed his client as “a demon,” “possessed” and deserving of execution, claiming such comments had come from politicians “from President Trump, all the way down.”

He also sharply criticized the investigation into the children’s deaths, repeatedly asking the court: “Where is the evidence that she did this?”

Reddington pointed to the absence of blood on Clancy’s socks after she cut herself and jumped from a bedroom window. He also said she had no memory of killing her children when she awoke from a coma, claiming police simply told her what had happened despite alleged problems with the day’s timeline.

“It wasn’t even a horrendous investigation. There was no investigation,” the attorney told the judge.

He maintained that the alleged shortcomings meant prosecutors had not established probable cause showing that Clancy was the person responsible for the deaths.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham dismissed the argument as “laughable,” noting that the defense had not previously raised the claim in that form.

Reddington further argued that the state lacked enough evidence to prove the 36-year-old was criminally responsible for the killings.

In Massachusetts insanity cases, prosecutors must address two questions: whether the defendant had a mental disease or defect at the time of the alleged offense and, if so, whether that condition prevented the person from controlling their conduct or following the law.

Since the state had not met its burden of proving criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt, Reddington argued that the judge was required to find Clancy not guilty on every charge.

Buckingham countered that mental illness does not automatically prevent someone from committing a crime or being held criminally responsible for it.

Judge William Sullivan said he will take the matter under advisement and rule at a later date.

Tuesday’s hearing, which drew dozens of reporters to the courthouse, set the wheels in motion for the future of her case after a dramatic and uncertain three weeks since her first trial ended.

Clancy went on trial in July, charged with three counts of first-degree murder for killing Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months old, inside the family home in the wealthy suburb of Duxbury, Massachusetts, on January 24, 2023.

The 36-year-old labor and delivery nurse strangled the children with exercise bands in the basement after sending her husband, Patrick Clancy, out of the home to run errands.

She then tried to kill herself, cutting her wrists and neck and jumping from the second-floor bedroom window.

Clancy survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.

The mother of three did not deny killing her children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and psychosis at the time.

Over five weeks of testimony, jurors heard Patrick’s devastating 911 call, saw graphic photos of the children’s autopsies, learned details of Clancy’s spiraling mental health in the months leading up to the killings, and listened to dueling diagnoses from psychiatrists and mental health experts.

Outside the courthouse, the case also grew in magnitude.

Pink-clad supporters staged rallies in the parking lot, a national conversation about postpartum mental illness began, and the media following ballooned into a mob of camera crews.

But ultimately, after 38 hours of deliberations, the 12 jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict and, on September 4, a mistrial was declared.

It turned out that a lone holdout juror, identified as Michael Desronvil, refused to join the other 11 in finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.

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Desronvil’s role in the trial was one of several matters that took center stage on Tuesday as the defense and prosecution faced off once again inside the courtroom over a handful motions filed since the mistrial was declared.

At the start of the hearing, Judge William Sullivan tabled several of the motions for a later date and several matters that had been expected failed to come to fruition.

Arguments about the defense’s request to investigate Desronvil, a defense motion to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds, and a newly-filed motion from the state requesting a gag order preventing Reddington from speaking out about the case were all put on pause.

A date of November 2 was set for a follow-up hearing where those matters will be argued.

No new trial date was set – after the two sides both asked the judge to delay the matter and Reddington said he would not be available for a retrial until June. Judge Sullivan told the lawyers to prepare to set a date at the November 2 hearing.

The prosecution also did not confirm whether or not the state plans to retry Clancy and, if so, on the same charges of first-degree murder or lesser charges.

When asked by reporters outside court, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said his office was still deciding its next course of action in the case.

Attorney Heather O’Connor also appeared in court on behalf of the holdout juror, Desronvil, whose conduct lies at the heart of several of the defense’s motions to be heard on November 2.

In the defense’s motion to dismiss, Reddington argued that Judge Sullivan failed to properly probe the holdout juror and the claims made by the foreperson before declaring a mistrial.

Had a thorough inquiry been made, he argued, a mistrial might have been avoided.

Reddington argued that putting Clancy on trial for a second time would be a violation of double jeopardy laws and so the judge must dismiss the case altogether.

Before the mistrial was declared, the jury foreperson sent two messages to the judge accusing the then-unidentified holdout of expressing reasonable doubt, but of refusing to apply it to the law.

At the time, Reddington called for the holdout to be struck from the case or to at least to face further questioning.

Judge Sullivan refused and hours later, when the jury returned deadlocked again, a mistrial was declared.

Desronvil has said through his attorney Edward Paltzik that he has ‘zero doubt’ about Clancy’s guilt, based on what was described as ‘mountains of evidence.’

Paltzik, who previously represented President Donald Trump, and Reddington have repeatedly traded barbs in recent weeks.

The attorney for the holdout has branded Reddington ‘Kevin ‘Shooter McGavin’ Reddington.’ He has responded by branding Paltzik a ‘publicity-seeking opportunist.’

The war of words came after questions mounted about Desronvil’s actions in the jury room when several fellow jurors broke their silence in interviews with the media.

Several accused him of refusing to follow the law when it came to reasonable doubt while one also claimed that he was scrolling on his phone during deliberations.

It also emerged that Desronvil was arrested for domestic violence in 2021. The case was later dropped but he still had an active restraining order against him while serving as a juror in the case.

Following the claims, Reddington filed a separate motion calling for an investigation into Desronvil to determine whether he was truthful during jury selection and to probe his use of his phone during the trial.

The defense asked the court for his juror questionnaire, phone records and records around his brushes with the law.

While those matters were not addressed in Tuesday’s hearing, the newest member of Clancy’s legal team, former Karen Read attorney Martin Weinberg, argued that juror notes from the final days of deliberations and sidebar discussions should be released to the public.

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague countered by arguing that this could have a ‘chilling effect’ on future potential jurors.

Outside court, Desronvil’s newly-appointed lawyer O’Connor told reporters he wants privacy for himself and justice for the children.

‘He’s the only one being targeted here because his decision and his vote was different than everyone else’s. People should not have to worry – just as the commonwealth said – jurors should not have to worry about coming in and having them outed because they take a stance different than everyone else,’ she said.

While the case continues to play out contentiously inside the courtroom and draw crowds to Plymouth, outside the case Patrick Clancy has spoken out for the first time.

In a sit-down with 60 Minutes following the mistrial, Clancy’s ex-husband spoke of his grief and meeting his new wife, Dr Rachel Danis.

In the interview, they revealed that they are expecting their first child together.

Clancy, meanwhile, remains in Tewksbury Hospital, where she receives round-the-clock care and is on suicide watch.

She will return to court on November 2.

Residents of a Southern California neighborhood are not at risk of encountering a deadly viper after all—the snake at the center of the scare never existed.

Santa Ana police went to a home near Cypress Avenue on Monday after receiving a report of a suspected Gaboon viper in the backyard.

Reptile experts joined the search in the Santa Ana area, but found neither a snake nor any evidence that the described animal had ever been there.

Investigators contacted the person who reported seeing the snake on Tuesday and asked to review the original photograph.

That was when the account began to unravel.

The person acknowledged that the image had been generated with artificial intelligence and admitted the report was false.

Police said they suspected from the outset that the image could be AI-generated, but still needed to investigate the report and establish what had happened.

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“AI-generated images can look very real, and when false information is shared as fact, it can quickly create unnecessary fear, confusion, and concern in our community,” the Santa Ana Police Department said in an Instagram post.

The department had warned the public about the purported snake on Monday.

“We have received reports of a snake believed to be a Gaboon Viper, last seen in a tree within a residential neighborhood near Main Street and Edinger Avenue,” police said in a Facebook post at the time.

“Gaboon Vipers are highly venomous and are not native to North America,” the department added.

According to Britannica, Gaboon vipers are Africa’s heaviest venomous snakes, weighing as much as 18 pounds. They also possess the longest fangs of any snake, reaching up to 1.6 inches in length.

The heavy-bodied snakes have tan, purple and brown geometric markings. Their velvet-like pattern provides exceptional camouflage, helping the slow-moving vipers disappear among leaf litter and roots on the forest floor.

CHICAGO (WLS) — For Derenda Bradley and her family, becoming homeowners marked a major personal achievement—and a milestone for the Chicago Housing Authority. Bradley is the 1,000th successful participant in the agency’s Choose to Own program.

Bradley, a first-time buyer, recently purchased a home in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood through the CHA initiative, which launched in 2002. Surrounded by relatives and community members during a celebration, she described the significance of reaching homeownership.

“It’s just exciting. It’s just exciting to just be a part of such a program,” Bradley said.

CHA officials confirmed that Bradley is the 1,000th person to complete the Choose to Own program successfully.

“At the end of the day, it’s about everyday people who are moving forward in their lives, and the progress that we make in our individual lives make our communities that much stronger,” said Jawanza Malone, chairman of the CHA Board of Commissioners.

The celebration included an unexpected surprise for Bradley: CHA presented her with a new set of kitchen appliances for her home.

“So, congratulations, my dear, and you deserve it,” CHA CEO Keith Pettigrew told her as the crowd erupted in applause.

Bradley said the path to owning a home was far from easy. She faced addiction and lost custody of her children. Today, she shares the Roseland home with her daughter and four grandchildren.

For Bradley’s granddaughter, Amira Taylor, the new home represents a fresh start for the family.

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“We get to have our own room, and I feel really excited about the new house,” Taylor said.

Jimmy Stewart, CHA’s manager of homeownership programs, said the benefits of the initiative reach well beyond the purchase of a property.

“It’s not just about homeownership; we’re changing the trajectory of their lives and their children’s lives,” Stewart said.

Stewart, who was raised in CHA housing, said the work is especially meaningful to him. He also believes expanding homeownership can help narrow the generational wealth gap in communities of color.

“Homeownership is that thing that is like the foundation for where dreams are being built and dreams are being pursued through home ownership and that stability that it provides,” Stewart said.

“They have a community. They have a village. So, it’s important that they know that they can lean on their village if they ever struggle with whatever life presents them with,” she said.

The home holds an even deeper meaning for Bradley. She said the day she received approval to buy it also marked the one-year anniversary of formally adopting her grandchildren.

Bradley hopes the house will give her family more than a place to live. She wants it to offer shelter, stability and a foundation for future success.

A poignant video released after Dolly Parton’s death shows the country icon inviting fans to explore a new exhibition devoted to her extraordinary life and career.

The Life of Many Colors Museum officially opened Tuesday inside SongTeller, Parton’s Nashville hotel, which welcomed its first guests on the same day.

Parton narrowly missed the opening. She died on August 25 at age 80 following a brief, private battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.

Despite her illness, the Queen of Country recorded a message in which she said she was “so proud to invite you to my Life of Many Colors Museum, opening right here in the heart of Nashville at my SongTeller Hotel.”

She added: “This museum will be the largest exhibit of my life and career, filled with the stories, songs and memories that I’ve carried.”

Released amid a bitter dispute over Parton’s estate, the promotional video shows her enthusiastically explaining that the exhibition “includes all of the things that have helped this little girl’s dreams come true,” before adding, “I can’t wait to share it with you.”

The museum takes its name from Parton’s beloved 1971 song Coat of Many Colors, which recalls the jacket her mother made from scraps of fabric when Parton was a child.

SongTeller stands on Commerce Street in downtown Nashville, just steps from South Broadway and its famous concentration of bars, venues and live-music destinations.

Nightly rates start at $428 for a standard room with a king-sized bed. Rooms overlooking the city cost $448, while those with river views are priced at $478.

The museum occupies the hotel’s third floor and features personal treasures, including the wedding dress Parton wore when she married Carl Dean in 1966.

Dean died in March 2025 at the age of 82 from causes that were not made public, two months before the couple would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary.

Parton was later buried beside Dean at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, laid to rest three days after her death wearing high heels.

Her bridal gown is displayed inside a case modeled on the couple’s wedding venue, Ringgold First Baptist Church in Georgia.

“Theirs is one of the great American love stories, so it’s an absolute honor to be able to share it with everybody,” Parton’s niece Rebecca Seaver told Vogue.

Rebecca, who was in charge of putting Parton’s museum together, explained that the exhibition begins with ‘an immersive walkthrough of her life,’ including her birth in a log cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and her first meeting with Dean at the Wishy Washy laundromat in Nashville.

Guests will be guided through the experience by audio clips of Parton called ‘Dolly-grams,’ enabling the songstress to be ‘the conductor for the symphony.’

Rebecca shared: ‘We’re so fortunate that we were able to have that time with her to not just record those moments, but also with the archive, to be able to sit down with her and ask: “What do you want to show people?”‘

The museum also contains the dress Parton wore in the cover art for her plaintive 1973 song Jolene, in which she begs the title character: ‘Please don’t take my man.’

That dress has now been restored, Rebecca explained, sharing that ‘we’ve never shown the outfit that she wore on the cover of Jolene because it needed some love. But we’ve given it that love, and Dolly was really excited about that.’

Rebecca’s brother Bryan Seaver served as their aunt’s head of security and was entrusted by Parton to announce the news of her death on video last month.

At the heart of the scandal over her estate is the explosive falling out that Bryan had with Parton’s manager of more than two decades, Danny Nozell.

Nozell fired Bryan this month and obtained a temporary restraining order against him under Parton’s company She’s Alive LLC.

In his legal documents, Nozell claimed Seaver demanded money from him and began ‘invoking his self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence’ in the process. 

Bryan was claimed to have called himself a ‘killer’ and to have told Nozell: ‘All I do is warfare…everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.’ 

A defiant Bryan responded by pouring scorn on the ‘spurious’ restraining order, which he dismissed as ‘simply a publicity stunt,’ in a statement to People.

‘Dolly called me her killer,’ Bryan insisted. ‘It was a joke we used around her camp. I was her “baby boy ninja” and Danny Nozell took that text out of context to somehow imagine that I was threatening him. He’s always called me The Killer.’

Before Parton’s death, an exhibition about her life had already opened at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, with items including the tape recorder she used while writing her classic songs Jolene, I Will Always Love You and The Seeker.

Her passing came after months of health woes that saw her pull out of a string of public appearances, fueling fan fears for her wellbeing. 

In an interview published just four days before her death, Parton had declared she still had ‘so many things I want to achieve’ and vowed to continue ‘working as long as I can to see everything come to life,’ via People.

She explained that she had been grappling with ‘some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.’

In the days after her death, it emerged her legacy in Nashville was being further immortalized in the form of the airport being renamed after her.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority issued a press release saying Parton’s representatives were open to the move, via Page Six.

‘Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state. From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her,’ Lee said in his statement.

‘At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.’

Hurricane Polo is moving toward the United States after striking Mexico’s Pacific coast with powerful winds, torrential rain and dangerous surf. Officials are warning that the storm could bring life-threatening flash flooding.

Polo made landfall late Monday along the western coast of Baja California Sur, just south of the small community of Las Barrancas, the National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane was likely a Category 2 storm when it reached the coast, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 105 to 110 mph.

By early Tuesday, Polo had weakened as it moved over land but continued to generate hurricane-force conditions. Sustained winds were measured at 75 mph, with stronger gusts, according to the NHC.

The storm has already lashed Mexico’s Pacific coastline with intense rain, destructive surf and powerful winds, flooding streets and damaging property.

Forecasters now say Polo’s moisture could fuel life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in mountainous terrain.

As Polo tracks across Mexico, as much as “34 trillion gallons of rainfall headed toward the Southwest and Central U.S,” could follow, Crisis Response International said in a social media post.

The National Weather Service issued a bulletin for parts of western Texas and New Mexico, warning of “potentially life-threatening flash flooding” through early Wednesday.

Flooding has already been reported in parts of New Mexico, where the Rio Grande is rising beyond its banks.

The flood threat is expected to move eastward, with officials warning of possible flash flooding from central Texas to central Oklahoma through Thursday.

“Several inches of rain are possible, with 5–6+ inches possible across parts of Texas,” one meteorologist wrote on social media.

“Repeated rounds of storms could cause rainfall to pile up quickly, leading to life-threatening flash flooding.”

Although Polo’s most severe impacts may be pulling away from Southern California, coastal areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties could still experience effects from the storm.

The National Weather Service on Tuesday canceled an earlier high-surf and coastal-flooding warning, while cautioning that hazardous ocean conditions could persist.

“The surf from Hurricane Polo has peaked and will lower rather quickly through Wednesday, but strong rip currents may linger,” the bulletin said.

“While the high tide will be lower on Wednesday compared to today, it will lower only a little and will likely still be above 7.0 feet.”

Polo may also not be the final storm to affect the Southern California coastline.

Officials said Tropical Storm Rachel is expected to generate “larger” swells than Polo along Southern California from early to mid-next week.

Rachel was nearing hurricane strength Tuesday as it moved along Mexico’s southwestern coast, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the NHC.

“Large waves could produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along portions of the southwestern coast of Mexico during the next several days.”

In a rare interview, Charlie Kirk’s mother also rejected speculation that she and Erika are estranged. She said her son’s death brought them closer and that Charlie would be deeply upset by the harsh treatment his widow has received online.

“We were 100% behind her,” Kathryn Kirk told Vanity Fair for a profile of Erika. She dismissed claims that Charlie’s parents hold his widow responsible for his death or are feuding with her over his estate and the future of Turning Point USA.

“Erika and I have, through the trauma, grown closer,” Kathryn said. “We knew Charlie in a way that no one else did. We can look at each other’s eyes and we know the depth of our despair.”

According to Vanity Fair, Kathryn had avoided speaking publicly with journalists before this interview and would prefer to remain a private citizen. She said, however, that her silence helped fuel conspiracy theories about her relationship with Erika.

She pushed back on those rumors, the outlet reported, becoming emotional as she described how distressed her son would be by the online attacks directed at his wife.

Kathryn also remembered how quickly media requests began arriving after the shooting.

“A TMZ reporter called me even before I talked to my daughter. Before I was running the car,” she told Vanity Fair.

The magazine’s profile also outlined the steps Charlie and Erika had been taking to protect their family’s future as reported death threats continued to mount.

Doug DeGroote, a Turning Point board member who oversees the couple’s personal finances, said they had been preparing their will. They were scheduled to visit his office to sign the documents on the Monday after Charlie was killed.

The evening before his death, Charlie reportedly spoke with Erika and their pastor about security measures, including bulletproof glass shields and protective vests.

Erika, members of Turning Point’s board and several close associates told Vanity Fair that Charlie had made his wishes clear: If something happened to him, he wanted his wife to lead the organization.

Kathryn said Charlie deliberately kept his parents out of those discussions “because it would just go right into our fears.”

“She knew him more than anyone,” a former Turning Point employee told the outlet, explaining why Erika was chosen to take over the organization.

Erika also described the unbearable experience of watching surveillance footage of the shooting during a preliminary hearing in September.

As she watched the man on the screen, she silently pleaded, “Don’t do it. Don’t you dare do it. It’s not too late,” according to Vanity Fair’s account. She clutched Kathryn’s arm and cried out when the footage showed Robinson taking position before the fatal shot.

Erika also recalled insisting on seeing her husband’s body at the Utah hospital after a doctor advised against it.

“I looked back at him and said, ‘With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband. I didn’t get a kiss goodbye this morning. I just want to kiss my husband,’” she told Vanity Fair.

Hospital staff removed tubes from Charlie’s mouth, wrapped his neck and cleared away blood before she saw him, the outlet reported.

“I’ll never be able to put it into words,” Erika said. “But Charlie had a smirk. It wasn’t sad.”