Jury deadlocks for third time in Lindsay Clancy trial as judge weighs mistrial
Jurors in Massachusetts have told the judge for a third time they cannot reach a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of former nurse Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three children in 2023. The judge has given the defense one hour to file an emergency appeal before formally declaring a mistrial.
After nearly 40 hours of deliberation, the 12-member jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has told the court for a third time that it cannot reach a unanimous verdict, saying in a note that it was "with a heavy heart" that it had to report the impasse and would not be able to resolve it.
Judge William Sullivan said he had no choice but to declare a mistrial, but agreed to hold off on the formal declaration for one hour to give the defense time to file an emergency appeal. Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, asked the judge to pause proceedings so he could petition the Massachusetts supreme judicial court directly, citing concerns about an apparent holdout juror. Reddington argued there was a risk the juror was taking an "intractable" position regardless of the evidence presented on reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors, by contrast, said they favored declaring a mistrial. Earlier the same day, the judge had declined a defense request to question or remove a juror who, according to a letter from the jury foreperson, had expressed doubt about the case but was refusing to "listen to the law" on reasonable doubt. The judge found no indication the juror was refusing to deliberate and reminded the panel that morning that they were required to follow the law regardless of personal views.
The jury, made up of nine women and three men, has spent over a week deciding whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for strangling her three young children — eight-month-old Callan, five-year-old Cora and three-year-old Dawson — in January 2023. The six-week trial has drawn national attention to postpartum mental healthcare. Clancy's defense argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a condition estimated to affect around two in 1,000 births, and should not be held criminally responsible. Prosecutors from the Plymouth county district attorney's office contend her actions were planned and deliberate.
