Who is Janette MacAusland? Massachusetts mom accused of killing two children seeks dismissal after Lindsay Clancy trial | Hindustan Times

Janette MacAusland is a Massachusetts mother accused of killing her two young children, Kai, 7, and Ella, 6, and then tried to take her own life. On Thursday, her defense team has asked a court to dismiss the murder case against her or release her on bail, just days after the high-profile Lindsay Clancy murder trial ended in a mistrial.Joseph Krowski, Janette MacAusland's attorney, told a judge that there was insufficient evidence to hold the 49-year-old Wellesley mother in jail.MacAusland faces two counts of first-degree murder. The children were found dead inside the family's home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in April after police conducted a welfare check.The case returned to Dedham District Court less than a week after a Massachusetts jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the Lindsay Clancy trial. Clancy, who was charged with killing her three children in 2023, argued she was not criminally responsible for the killings because of postpartum psychosis.Also read: Corie Walsh update: Was Lindsay Clancy-obsessed alleged killer mom released? Where is she now? Latest detailsWho is Janette MacAusland?According to WCVB, MacAusland worked for New England Integrated Health as an acupuncturist. After her husband filed for divorce in October of last year, after nine years of marriage, she had been fighting for custody of the kids.According to court documents, Samuel MacAusland, the father of the children, was requesting custody of the couple's home and children.Three days prior to the killings, on April 21, a guardian was appointed after the parents filed a motion to have a third party make custody recommendations, seemingly bringing the heated legal struggle to a close.However, late on April 24, MacAusland showed up “hysterical” at her aunt’s home. She drove roughly 140 miles away from her $1.5 million mansion in the ritzy Boston suburb, prosecutors recounted during the hearing.According to the police report cited by the New York Post, MacAusland appeared at her aunt's Bennington home with bloody wounds all over her neck and told a Vermont police officer, "I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself."She allegedly told the officer, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”According to terrifying dispatch audio, Wellesley police discovered the children's deaths inside a bedroom after her worried aunt called the police. They also observed that there was “blood spatter everywhere.”The kids attended Wellesley's Schofield Elementary School in kindergarten and second grade.Also read: Author Nick Adams ends date over intense Lindsay Clancy debate, ‘She looked stunned as I strolled away…’“This is not Lindsay Clancy 2.0”At the hearing on Thursday, MacAusland’s defense attorney Krowski asked the court to dismiss the charges or release her on bail. Krowski urged prosecutors, including incoming Norfolk County officials, to reconsider the charges while examining MacAusland’s mental health history.He noted that the national discussion following the Clancy trial showed growing public attention toward mental illness and criminal responsibility.Prosecutors opposed the request, saying they are still waiting for the official findings from the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner regarding the cause and manner of the children’s deaths.“This is not Lindsay Clancy 2.0,” Krowski Jr. said after the hearing, according to CBS News Boston. He said MacAusland’s case raises broader questions about how the criminal justice system handles defendants with mental health issues.Krowski said MacAusland has a “history of mental illness” but has not confirmed whether the defense will pursue an insanity argument. He said it was too early to determine what legal strategy the defense would use.“This is not a postpartum situation,” Krowski said, pointing out that MacAusland’s children were older than the children involved in the Clancy case.A judge denied both requests and ordered MacAusland to remain held without bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for October 29.