‘Big Redd,’ ‘Shreddington’: Why Lindsay Clancy’s 75-year-old lawyer has gone viral

Kevin Reddington did not set out to become an internet celebrity. But the 75-year-old Massachusetts defense attorney has become an unexpected social media star while representing Lindsay Clancy in one of the state’s most closely watched murder trials.

Court clips have drawn praise from supporters who admire his fierce defense of Clancy and his blunt, no-nonsense manner. Videos featuring the veteran lawyer have circulated on TikTok under tags such as #kevinreddington, alongside nicknames including “Big Redd” and “Shreddington.”

Reddington does not dispute that Clancy killed her three children, who were strangled with exercise bands at their home in Duxbury, a Boston suburb, in 2023. Instead, he has argued that the former labor and delivery nurse was in the middle of a psychotic episode linked to postpartum mental illness.

Clancy, 36, faces a first-degree murder charge and could receive life in prison without parole if convicted. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, she could be committed to a state psychiatric hospital. The trial has also fueled debate over postpartum mental health treatment in the United States and the legal system’s handling of cases involving mothers who kill their children.

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A judge declared a mistrial on September 4 after nine women and three men deliberated for seven days without reaching a unanimous verdict. Eleven jurors favored finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity, but one juror held out.

Reddington has practiced law since 1975 and handled more than 100 murder cases. Boston Magazine named him Massachusetts’ best criminal defense attorney in 2002, and he belongs to the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mental illness defenses have been a long-standing part of his work.

His reputation grew in 1989 when he successfully argued that Therese Rogers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and delusions caused by an abusive boyfriend when she fatally stabbed him. During the Clancy trial, Reddington has continued to attract attention with sharp exchanges. He told the judge that instructions on reasonable doubt were “soft” and asked him to address the issue more “forcefully.” In another heated exchange, he accused a juror of lying and said jury notes showed the juror was refusing to apply the law.

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