Full story
Jury weighs verdict options
A jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial began deliberating this week in Plymouth Superior Court but had not reached a verdict by the end of the day Friday, with the case centered on whether she should be held criminally responsible for killing her three young children at her Massachusetts home in 2023.
“"I don't think we're seeing a verdict before Monday or Tuesday of next week"”
Jurors are deciding whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with both sides agreeing she did it while her attorneys argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and prosecutors argue she intentionally planned the killings.
CNN reported the jury ended deliberations for the day without a verdict and would return Monday, with the 12-person jury made up of nine women and three men and deliberations scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. ET.
ABC7 New York said jurors have to consider testimony from 85 witnesses, and WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman said, "I don't think we're seeing a verdict before Monday or Tuesday of next week."
CBS News reported the jury had deliberated for 10 and a half hours since the prosecution and defense made their case Thursday, and it said jurors asked to see pill bottles and the knife in evidence, according to defense attorney Kevin Reddington.
Evidence requests and expert clash
During deliberations, jurors asked to see two bags containing pill bottles and a knife the defendant allegedly used, with defense attorney Kevin Reddington telling WJAR that the request came after emotional testimony and questions surrounding mental health and the way the health care system responds to people in crisis.
WHDH reported Reddington confirmed the jury wanted to look at exhibits, saying, "It’s an exhibit," and he added, "The jury wants to look at exhibits… They’re in a bag."
WJAR also described how prosecutors emphasized decisions they said Clancy made the night her children were killed, including Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague telling jurors, "She had to choose where, the basement."
CBS News said Judge William Sullivan named an older woman as foreperson after alternates were randomly drawn Thursday, and it reported the jury was whittled from 18 jurors to 12—nine women and three men.
CNN reported that the jury sent just one note to the court Friday requesting to examine the prescribed medication bottles and the knife, and it said both represent key physical evidence in the trial.
Possible outcomes and what’s at risk
If Clancy is convicted, the trial coverage says her sentence could be as severe as life in prison, while if she is found not guilty she may be released or remain confined in a mental health facility depending on the verdict.
“"Even if she's found not guilty by reason of insanity, she's not walking"”
ABC7 New York said if Clancy is found not guilty because of a mental illness, she will be required to continue staying at Tewksbury Hospital, where the state hospital and authorities will review her case every six months or so to decide whether it is safe for her to be released.
CNN reported that both prosecutors and her defense agree Clancy was mentally ill when she fatally strangled her children with exercise bands and attempted suicide at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on January 24, 2023, and it said the key question is whether she was "criminally responsible."
WJAR said the jury can decide if Clancy is not guilty, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder or guilty of manslaughter, and it reported that any of the three criminal convictions would result in prison.
BBC described the central legal fight as whether Clancy should be held legally responsible because her defense argues she was suffering from a severe mental illness, while prosecutors contend she made a calculated decision and should be held legally responsible.