Rep. Nancy Mace called for the public execution of Lindsay Clancy, the mother accused of killing her three young children in 2023, saying the death should serve as "a warning to women everywhere."
Mace, a South Carolina Republican described as an outgoing lawmaker, made the remarks to TMZ on Monday. The 48-year-old mother of two did not hedge. She called Clancy a "serial killer" and said the method of execution did not matter to her, firearm, electric chair, or otherwise.
The comments landed days after Clancy's trial ended in a hung jury earlier this month, with 11 of 12 jurors siding with the defense's argument that Clancy should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. A single holdout prevented a unanimous verdict, and the case ended in a mistrial. Clancy is now likely facing a new trial.
In her remarks to TMZ, Mace framed the case in the starkest terms possible. She said Clancy "deserves nothing less" than death.
"Her children are dead, she should be dead too."
She went further, calling for the execution to be carried out publicly.
"She should get the death penalty. It should be public. It should be a public execution."
When pressed on specifics, Mace was blunt.
"It could be by firearm, it could be electric chair, I don't really care."
Mace said the point of a public execution would be to send a message. She described it as a "warning to women everywhere, you don't kill your kids."
Mace's comments also addressed a separate development in the case. Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, filed what the coverage described as a last-ditch request to President Trump to pardon Clancy. Mace called the pardon plea a "nasty, ugly" publicity stunt.
The request ran into an obvious legal wall. Clancy's case is a state prosecution, not a federal one. A presidential pardon applies only to federal offenses. Both Trump and Reddington have acknowledged the pardon is legally impossible.
Trump addressed the situation when reporters asked him about it on Sunday. He did not endorse the pardon effort but struck a somber tone.
"I certainly heard that, but look, it's very sad. There is no winner there. There's no win no matter what you do. Three children are dead."
He added simply: "It's a very sad situation."
The mistrial earlier this month left the case in limbo. Clancy's defense had argued she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity for allegedly killing her three young children in 2023. That argument nearly carried the day. Eleven jurors agreed. One did not.
Because the verdict was not unanimous, the judge declared a mistrial. Prosecutors now face a decision about whether to retry the case, and Clancy, who has not been convicted, remains in legal jeopardy.
Mace's use of the term "serial killer" to describe Clancy is her own characterization, not a legal finding. No jury has convicted Clancy of any charge. The near-unanimous insanity verdict suggests the defense's case resonated with all but one member of the panel.
Reddington's pardon request, filed in the days after the mistrial, appeared designed to draw public attention to Clancy's case rather than to secure an actual legal remedy. The filing was directed to President Trump despite the well-established constitutional limit that presidential pardons cover only federal crimes.
Neither the specific charges Clancy faces in a potential retrial nor the court jurisdiction were identified in the available reporting. What is clear is that the case remains in state hands, beyond the reach of any presidential action.
Mace seized on the filing as evidence that Clancy's legal team was more interested in spectacle than in justice for the three dead children. Whether Reddington responded publicly to Mace's characterization is not known.
Three children are dead. The jury nearly acquitted their mother. A sitting congresswoman wants her executed in public. And the one legal maneuver her attorney tried, a presidential pardon, was dead on arrival before the ink dried. Whatever comes next in this case, the facts already on the table are enough to test anyone's faith in the system's ability to deliver a just outcome.
