Judge William Sullivan Dismisses Lindsay Clancy Triple Infanticide Trial Without Verdict

Trial ends without verdict

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. 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 “with a heavy heart their inability to reach a unanimous verdict.” The deliberations that filtered from exchanges between the judge, the defense, and the prosecution showed eleven jurors favored acquittal on lack of criminal responsibility, against one who was 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 rejects this theory and contends that Lindsay Clancy had planned the murders and was capable of understanding the consequences of her actions, while the judge’s dismissal was later confirmed by an appeals court.

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Jurors sent home; mistrial

In the run-up to the outcome, jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy were sent home for the day on Wednesday afternoon due to what Judge William Sullivan described as an “unforeseen circumstance,” with testimony scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Sullivan told jurors, “This is not something we saw coming, but you're not to speculate about what it is,” and said they were “not to hold it against either side.”

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that an episode of postpartum psychosis led Clancy to kill her three children in January 2023, and the case centered on whether she should be held criminally responsible for the deaths 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.

On Friday, the trial ended in a mistrial after seven days of juror deadlock, and Judge William Sullivan set a court date of Sept. 29, 2026, to reconvene and determine next steps.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz declined to announce an immediate decision about retrying Clancy, saying outside court, “Children were murdered, and it's our job to seek justice,” after the mistrial was declared.

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Next steps and stakes

After the jury deadlock, the process moved toward formal next steps, with Judge William Sullivan declaring a mistrial and setting a date of Sept. 29 to determine next steps following the mistrial.

ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire said the defense would likely ask for bail, and he described the prosecution’s decision on whether to retry her as something that could be made “right then and there” or in the near future following a mistrial declaration.

The trial’s stakes were framed in terms of potential outcomes, with ABC News noting that if a mistrial is declared, one of several next steps may transpire, including plea negotiations or the possibility that prosecutors could drop the case.

In the earlier deliberation context, the jurors’ split was described as 11-1 in favor of acquittal on the grounds of legal insanity, and the judge’s dismissal was tied to the jurors’ inability to reach a unanimous verdict.

Clancy’s case has been described as highly publicized and has reignited debate over maternal mental health and postpartum psychosis, which the 20 Minutes article says affects one to two women per 1,000 births according to associations.

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