A judge in the US state of Massachusetts declared a mistrial in the case of a former nurse accused of murdering her three children after jurors said they were deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict.
“At this point, I’m going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I’m going to declare a mistrial,” said Judge William F. Sullivan.
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy case deliberated for 38 hours over seven days. Jury notes indicated the 12-person jury, made up of nine women and three men, was split 11 to 1, but a verdict must be unanimous. The jury reported being deadlocked three times, with its final note saying, “With a heavy heart” that it remained unable to reach a verdict.
A mistrial ends the trial without a clear resolution, and leaves open the possibility of a retrial with a different jury.
Before the mistrial was declared, Clancy’s attorneys made a last-minute attempt to stop it, asking the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to remove a holdout juror they believed was refusing to follow the law. Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt denied the request, allowing Sullivan to proceed with the mistrial.
Clancy was accused of strangling her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan — at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, on Jan. 24, 2023. She allegedly attacked the children after her then-husband, Patrick, left the house to run errands. Clancy later jumped from a second-story window and was paralyzed.
She faced three murder charges. Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, argued that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was experiencing bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.
The jury was tasked with deciding whether Clancy was criminally responsible for the deaths or not guilty by reason of a lack of criminal responsibility because of mental illness.
The case drew widespread international attention, in part because of the questions it raised about mental health and the criminal justice system. It also generated numerous alternative theories about the events on social media.
Jurors were given five possible verdicts: not guilty; not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility; guilty of first-degree murder; guilty of second-degree murder; or manslaughter.
The mistrial leaves Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz to decide whether to retry Clancy before a different jury, potentially on first-degree murder or lesser charges. A hearing on the next steps is scheduled for Sept. 29.
