Lindsay Clancy lawyer Kevin Reddington creates courtroom spectacles

Throwing papers, hurling a ninja star - Lindsay Clancy lawyer creates courtroom spectacles

From gentle protector to throwing papers in frustration at the murder trial of US mother Lindsay Clancy, defence lawyer Kevin Reddington has been a captivating presence during the proceedings.

He's held her hand, rubbed her shoulder, gently escorted her across the courtroom in her wheelchair.

He's stood before the jury, arguing with calm conviction that Clancy, 36, was a mother in need of help, not a calculated killer who coldly murdered her three children.

Reddington has softly referred to "this young lady" and with his voice elevated during closing arguments, declared: "This is a prosecution that has ripped the soul out of this girl".

A spectacle for the global audiences captivated by proceedings broadcast from the courtroom, such dramatics are nothing new for those who have followed Reddington's career.

Reddington first made national headlines in 1989, when he won freedom for Therese Rogers, a woman accused of killing her boyfriend after stabbing his eyes out, the Cape Cod Times reported. (She did so with a butcher's knife, the court would learn, while the boyfriend slept.)

During the case, Reddington threw a pair of ninja stars across the courtroom to demonstrate their lethality. The scars in the wall remained decades later.

He had employed an insanity defence, the Times noted, telling the jury Rogers had suffered years of abuse from her boyfriend and developed Battered Woman Syndrome that resulted in a temporary bout of insanity when she killed him.

His successful use of that insanity argument was the first of its kind, according to the New York Times.

He relied on a similar argument in another case in 2007, when another woman was accused of killing her husband with a single gunshot to the chest, according to local news outlet The Enterprise.

Reddington presented such strong evidence that the woman had been abused that a grand jury failed to even return an indictment against her. In the US, such panels are convened by prosecutors to hear evidence to determine if there is enough to warrant criminal charges.

It was an incredible feat, Boston-based lawyer Rosemary Scapicchio told The Enterprise. She cited a humorous adage among the US legal community - that the bar for evidence is so low for grand juries to issue indictments, they would indict "a ham sandwich".

Reddington's fame peaked again around 2011, when defending Catherine Greig, the girlfriend of notorious mob boss James Whitey Bulger - played by Johnny Depp in the movie Black Mass.

She got a plea deal after harbouring one of the FBI's then-Ten Most Wanted fugitives for years.

Now, with the world watching to find out the fate of Clancy, all eyes are on Reddington once again.

On Friday, the court saw his emotions flare amid a heated discussion with the judge, as he pleaded with the judge not to declare a mistrial.

A day earlier, he had raised his voice, slammed a stack of papers, then sat visibly agitated, adjusting his coffee mug after the judge declined to remove a juror at Reddington's request.

Reddington had appeared to be on the verge of another high-profile acquittal and said the lone holdout was not applying the law correctly, preventing a unanimous verdict as required.

On Friday, he persuaded the judge to grant a one-hour delay before declaring a mistrial, which would require retrying the whole case.

"If we come back here in a half an hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court", Reddington said, "it's a shame. It's a real shame".

The judge initially declined, at one point saying "I'm not an actor", but then acceded to Reddington's request, allowing him to appeal to the highest court in Massachusetts.

When the judge did declare a mistrial, a date was set for Reddington to argue again for a not guilty finding instead.