Lead prosecutor in Susan Smith case addresses Lindsay Clancy mistrial, says charges shouldn't change if retried

The Lindsay Clancy trial was declared a mistrial on September 4, 2026, after a week of deliberations resulted in no unanimous verdict. Now, the prosecution may choose to retry the case with a new jury, negotiate a plea deal with the defendant, or drop the charges entirely.

This situation has led to speculation about whether the prosecution is going to reduce charges if there's a retrial to increase the chances of Clancy facing some amount of prison time. Prosecutor Tommy Pope, who was the lead prosecutor in the 1995 Susan Smith case, has said that the charges shouldn't be changed if the case is retried.

Tommy Pope on whether the charges in the Lindsay Clancy trial should be reduced if there's a retrial

Lindsay Clancy was charged with three counts of first degree murder of her three young children: Cora, Dawson, and Callan. After almost 7 weeks of trial proceedings, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial since the jury wasn't able to give a unanimous verdict due to one holdout juror.

It is yet to be known where this case will head next, and one might wonder if the first-degree murder charges against Clancy will be reduced going forward. While the prosecutors in the case haven't revealed what they intend on doing, Tommy Pope, who was the lead prosecutor in the 1995 Susan Smith case, has weighed in on the case.

Susan Smith's case was similar to that of Lindsay Clancy's. Smith was charged with two counts of murder after she murdered her two young sons by strapping them into their car seats and letting the car roll into a lake. Smith's defense had also stated that she was suffering from mental health issues such as depression and had suicidal thoughts.

However, Susan Smith was convicted of her crimes and sent to prison. While Tommy Pope had pursued a death penalty in Smith's case, the jury voted against it. At the end of her trial, Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Weighing in on the Lindsay Clancy trial on Fox News, Tommy Pope spoke on whether the charges against the defendant should be changed if there is a retrial. Pope said that he believes the charges shouldn't be changed if there's a retrial and justified his answer by referencing the Susan Smith case. He said:

"And I use the Smith example. Somebody said, "Well, poor Susan, why would you seek to"—you know, because I sought the death penalty. "Why would you do that?" I said, "Whatever the maximum penalty would be, had a carjacker did it...

Susan had once claimed that a carjacker had murdered her children. Pope points out that Susan should have received the same maximum penalty that would have applied if the murderer had been a carjacker or the children’s father.

Pope continues:

"Again, no disrespect to the mental health issues, but at the end of the day, we have a murder here that was committed by a person, and we can't allow a mother or a father, you know, any more deference than we would a stranger. Unfortunately, that seems to be what happened. If Lindsay Clancy had the same emotional issues but instead went to a local nursery and killed the children there, would we somehow view that as different?"

What Pope said does add some perspective to the case. Lindsay Clancy's defense had the responsibility to prove that she shouldn't be held criminally responsible for her crimes because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Many netizens have supported her defense's claim, and Clancy has received a lot of public support because of that.

However, the other side of that argument, as Pope points out, is that irrespective of what Clancy was going through, she did commit three murders. Now, it is yet to be seen whether the Lindsay Clancy case will go through a retrial, Clancy will negotiate a plea deal, or the prosecution will drop the charges.

Stay tuned for more updates on the case.

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