The judge in the criminal case of Lindsay Clancy declared a mistrial on Friday after the jury could not agree on a verdict for the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her three young children in 2023.
The mistrial came even after the defense filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court, seeking to delay the mistrial and claiming one of the jurors was not reaching a verdict because of personal bias.
Judge William Sullivan granted the defense an hour to file that appeal, but the Supreme Judicial Court ultimately denied the motion.
The 12-person jury deliberated for a little over six days, twice telling the judge they were deadlocked on a decision and were sent back for further discussions before ultimately stating they couldn’t agree on a unanimous verdict.
On Thursday, Clancy’s defense attorney Kevin Reddington moved to replace one of the jurors because he claimed they were not following the instructions of the law on “reasonable doubt” based on a note the jury foreperson had sent stating one juror was holding up the case.
The note said, in part, that one juror “acknowledged doubt but refuses to apply it to the verdict.” It did not say which direction the other 11 jurors were leaning.
The judge refused to replace the juror, instead sending them back for more deliberations after repeating instructions on what “reasonable doubt” means.
Nevertheless, just hours later, the jury came back to the judge saying it could not reach a verdict.
What happens once a mistrial is declared is ultimately up to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office based on a number of factors.
What happens now that the judge has declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy case?
The jurors will be polled individually to determine where the case was leaning, which could bring up the potential for a plea deal. The district attorney’s office might also consider whether or not Clancy’s family wants to go through another trial, and, if so, she could face different charges.
Clancy was originally charged with first-degree murder after her then-husband Patrick Clancy found their children – 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan – dead in the basement of their family home in Duxbury on the night of Jan. 24, 2023.
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Clancy and her defense did not deny that she killed the children, but instead argued she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder, and therefore was not in her right mind.
Prosecutors argued that Clancy sent her then-husband Patrick Clancy out of their home to run errands so that she could strangle their three children with exercise bands in the basement before attempting to kill herself.
For 22 days, jurors heard testimony from nearly 100 witnesses: 10 for the defense, including Clancy’s family and former mother-in-law, and more than 70 witnesses for the prosecution, including Patrick Clancy.
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Both sides testified that Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, was suffering from postpartum depression after having their third child and had vocalized thoughts of harming herself and the kids. Witnesses also testified that she was a loving mother who cared deeply about her children.
While the defense painted a picture of a dedicated mother who wanted to get better for her children and “begged for help” from various doctors, prosecutors claimed that she wouldn’t take the medications prescribed to her and that she wouldn’t listen to the recommendations of psychiatrists and other health professionals.
Forensic psychiatrists for the prosecution testified that they believed Clancy was not in psychosis while killing the children, but was deeply depressed and suicidal, with one doctor claiming he believed she wanted to kill herself but didn’t want to leave her children behind.
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Clancy’s defense said that on the night of the incident, she heard a male voice commanding her to kill her kids and then herself. But several witnesses testified that it was unusual that the night of her children’s murders was the only time she ever had this auditory hallucination.
Clancy remains paralyzed from the waist down after using multiple methods, including cutting her wrists and neck before jumping from a second-story window, to try to end her life that night.
Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge
She has been held at Tewksbury Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Massachusetts, since May 2023 for court-ordered mental health treatment.
The case gained nationwide attention for the spotlight it put on women’s mental health, particularly after having children.
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