Judge sends deadlocked Lindsay Clancy jury back after defense seeks 1 juror's removal

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The defense in the Lindsay Clancy trial told a judge Thursday on the sixth day of deliberations that one juror won't follow the judge's instructions about reasonable doubt, and said he wants them kicked off the jury.

The judge, though, sent the jury back to continue deliberations. The deadlocked jury has twice told the judge in the past two days that they can't agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three children.

The exchange came after the judge brought both sides and even Clancy herself to the bench for a discussion, then the jurors were brought back in. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington became animated at times, slicing the air with his hand.

This is a breaking news update. The prior story from AP follows below.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial was expected to keep trying to reach a verdict Thursday and avoid a mistrial after telling the judge twice that they can't agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three children.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, doesn't deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argues that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors say she knew what she was doing when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months.

Clancy's livestreamed trial has generated intense interest, with reporters and spectators packing the courtroom. The case has also sparked deep public divisions over her culpability and the issues around maternal mental health after childbirth.

Lindsay Clancy's reaction to the jury

Clancy stared at the jury with no expression on Wednesday as Judge William Sullivan explained to the courtroom that jurors were at an impasse — a sign there's a growing chance of a hung jury and the trial ending without a resolution.

Sullivan told the jurors not to abandon their own convictions just to reach a verdict, but urged them to seriously consider opposing views and reassess their positions if appropriate.

No one knows, he said, that another jury would be "more intelligent, more impartial or more competent to decide it than you are."

Lindsay Clancy could go on trial again

If the jury ultimately can't agree on a verdict, the judge could declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to put Clancy on trial again, drop the charges or try to negotiate a plea deal with her lawyer.

If the jury decides Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions, it could convict her of either murder or manslaughter. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines that she poses a danger to the public.

The evidence against Lindsay Clancy

Jurors have heard testimony from relatives and doctors about how Clancy's mental health declined in the months before the killings and how her treatment included several medications and a short stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Medical experts hired by the prosecution and the defense reached sharply different conclusions about her psychiatric state when she killed the children.

Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his now ex-wife, whom he views as ill rather than evil.

Clancy strangled the children with exercise bands in their home's basement, then jumped from a second-floor window. She remains paralyzed from the waist down. Her lawyers say she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her own life.

The prosecution argues she deliberately sent her then-husband on errands to get him out of the house, and prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.

Related topics