Lindsay Clancy’s jury remains deadlocked after six days of deliberations.
One juror was accused of not following the judge’s reasonable doubt instructions.
A continued deadlock could lead to a mistrial and possible retrial.
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial ended its sixth day of deliberations without a verdict on Thursday after the foreperson told the judge that one juror was allegedly refusing to follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt. The development raised the possibility of a hung jury in the closely watched Massachusetts case, in which Clancy is accused of killing her three children.
The jury will return on Friday to continue deliberations. Judge William Sullivan declined a defence request to remove the juror after privately questioning each member of the panel and rereading his instructions on reasonable doubt.
Clancy, 36, a former labour and delivery nurse, does not dispute that she strangled her children in the basement of their Massachusetts home in 2023 before attempting suicide. Her defence argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors maintain that she understood her actions and should be held criminally responsible.
Defence Seeks Removal Of Alleged Holdout Juror
Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington told the court that the jury foreperson had complained that a juror was refusing to follow the law on reasonable doubt.
Reddington argued that the juror should be removed, warning that the dispute could result in a mistrial.
“If we come back here in a half-hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it’s a shame — it’s a real shame,” Reddington said.
After receiving the note, Sullivan brought each juror into private questioning before directing the panel to continue deliberations. He rejected the defence request to remove the juror, saying doing so would require the court to take sides in the jury’s internal discussions.
“I don’t feel it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” Sullivan said, adding that jurors had previously sworn they could follow his instructions.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague supported the judge’s decision and said no further action was necessary.
The jury had already sent two notes indicating that it was struggling to reach a verdict. On Wednesday, Sullivan urged jurors not to abandon their individual convictions simply to reach a decision, while asking them to carefully consider opposing views and reassess their positions where appropriate.
What Happens If Jury Cannot Reach Verdict?
If the jury remains deadlocked, Sullivan could declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to retry Clancy, dismiss the charges or negotiate a plea agreement.
If found criminally responsible, Clancy could be convicted of murder or manslaughter. If acquitted, she could still potentially be ordered into a mental health facility if an evaluation determines that she poses a danger to the public.
Clancy has been paralysed from the waist down since her suicide attempt and uses a wheelchair. She was brought into the courtroom during Thursday’s proceedings for the first time in the trial to participate in a sidebar discussion with the judge.
The case has centred heavily on Clancy’s mental state before the killings. Relatives and doctors have testified about her deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the deaths, her psychiatric treatment and medications, as well as a brief hospitalisation.
Medical experts hired by the prosecution and defence have offered sharply different assessments of her psychiatric condition at the time of the killings.
Clancy is accused of strangling her children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — with exercise bands before cutting herself and jumping from a second-floor window.
Her lawyers say she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so that she could then end her own life. Prosecutors, however, allege that she deliberately sent her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, on errands before carrying out the killings and have questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.
Patrick Clancy has said publicly that he forgives his former wife and considers her mentally ill rather than evil.
The trial has drawn intense public attention and debate over criminal responsibility, postpartum mental illness and maternal mental health.
(With Inputs From The Associated Press)
