Full story
Hung Jury Ends Trial
Lindsay Clancy’s trial for the triple infanticide of her three children ended Friday without a verdict after the twelve jurors failed to agree on the criminal liability of the mother accused of killing her three children.
“ordered the trial to be dismissed”
Judge William Sullivan of the Plymouth, near Boston, courthouse ordered the trial to be dismissed, saying, “I have no choice but to declare the trial dismissed,” after reading jurors’ statement acknowledging “heavy heart their inability to reach a unanimous verdict.”
The jurors’ split, according to the status of deliberations that filtered from exchanges between the judge, the defense, and the prosecution, left eleven jurors favoring acquittal on lack of criminal responsibility against one opposed.
Clancy, 36, admits to killing her children aged 5, 3, and 8 months but pleads not guilty, with her defense asserting she suffered postpartum psychosis and that a voice supposedly ordered her to kill her children.
The prosecution rejected that account, contending Clancy had planned the murders and was capable of understanding the consequences of her actions, and the case was later confirmed as dismissed by an appeals court.
Deadlock, Instructions, Delay
On Wednesday, jurors told Judge William Sullivan they were still deadlocked on the fifth day of deliberations, reporting they remained at an impasse after 28 hours of deliberating on whether Clancy should be convicted of first-degree murder for killing her three children in 2023.
Sullivan read jurors “Tuey-Rodriguez” instructions, including that “If you are left in doubt as to any essential element, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of that doubt, and must be acquitted.”
During the trial, jurors had also been sent home for the day on Wednesday afternoon due to what Sullivan described as an “unforeseen circumstance,” with testimony scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington sought to prove that an episode of postpartum psychosis led Clancy to kill her three children in January 2023, while prosecutors argued she carefully planned the killings as part of an attempt to die by suicide.
After the deadlock persisted, the trial was ultimately dismissed, with the finding of a “deadlocked jury” described as occurring when the judge must acknowledge that after several days of deliberation the jurors cannot reach an agreement.
What Comes Next
With the trial dismissed after the jury could not reach unanimity, the case can be retried before a new jury, and the dismissal was confirmed when court proceedings resumed shortly after 2:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT).
“The case can then be retried before a new jury”
ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire said that if a mistrial is declared, the prosecution could decide to retry “right then and there” or in the near future, while defense attorney Peter Elikann said the judge would have to declare a mistrial unless the jury consented to go out again.
Clancy faces life in prison for the killings of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan at her family’s home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023, and she has pleaded not guilty.
Her defense continues to argue she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors contend she acted with premeditation and was capable of understanding the gravity of her act.
The case has been described as reigniting debate over maternal mental health and postpartum psychosis, a disorder that affects one to two women per 1,000 births according to associations, and dozens of women gathered outside the courthouse to support Clancy.