Clancy Trial: No verdict on Day 6, judge gives more guidance as defense pushes for juror’s removal

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4:00 p.m. Around half an hour after he ordered jurors to keep deliberating after giving more instructions regarding “reasonable doubt,” Judge Sullivan sends the jury home. Court will be back in session tomorrow.

3:30 p.m. Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington says one juror has “spurned” the instructions of the court.

Reddington questioned whether reminding the jurors of “reasonable doubt” was enough and questioned whether the juror should be removed.

“It [judge’s instructions] does not allow any foundation for a motion to remove or remove the juror who refuses to accept your instructions on the law or reasonable doubt. And if we come back here in a half an hour with a mistrial because of a because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it’s a shame. It’s a real shame,” an animated Reddington addressed the judge. “And that’s why I object to the court’s ruling. I request that we have further inquiry. I request that we my motion is to remove this juror that refuses to listen to your instruction and reasonable doubt.”

“It’s not appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror, or eleven,” Judge Sullivan responded after tasking the nine women and three men seated on the jury to keep deliberating.

3:25 p.m. Judge Sullivan delivers more instructions to the jurors, asking them to consider “reasonable doubt” as they continue deliberating.

3:23 p.m. Sidebar discussion ends and the full court reconvenes.

3:20 p.m. Bob Ward notes that only the 12 deliberating jurors are being questioned.

3:13 p.m. The entirety of the Clancy jury is being polled by the judge following a lengthy and animated discussion with prosecutors and the defense.

3:10 p.m. Prosecutors and defense, including Clancy, are involved in a lengthy and animated sidebar discussion.

2:44 p.m. Prosecutors, including Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, reenter the courtroom as jury reconvenes.

9:18 a.m.

9:11 a.m.

9:10 a.m.

Jury weighs five possible verdicts

Jurors are considering five possible outcomes in the case:

• First-degree murder
• Second-degree murder
• Manslaughter
• Not guilty
• Not criminally responsible by reason of mental illness

What happened Wednesday

Rather than declaring a mistrial, Sullivan delivered what Massachusetts calls a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, a legal charge given when jurors report they cannot reach a unanimous decision.

“There is no reason to suppose that the case will ever be submitted to 12 persons more intelligent, more impartial, or more competent to decide it, that more or clearer evidence will be produced,” Sullivan told jurors. “And with this in mind, it’s your duty to decide the case, if you can do it conscientiously.”

The instruction encourages jurors to continue discussing the case, carefully consider one another’s views, and make every reasonable effort to reach a unanimous verdict without abandoning sincerely held beliefs.

Although jurors are not told this directly, Boston 25 legal expert Elise Hershon says the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction is generally considered one of the final tools available to a judge before determining whether a jury is hopelessly deadlocked.

A closely watched case

The trial has drawn national and international attention, fueled by broader questions surrounding postpartum mental health and criminal responsibility.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, is charged with three counts of murder in the January 2023 deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy.

Prosecutors allege Clancy intentionally strangled the children with exercise bands in the basement of the family home before attempting to take her own life by jumping from a second-story window.

The fall left Clancy paralyzed from the waist down.

Competing views of Clancy’s mental state

The central issue facing jurors is whether Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has argued that Clancy was suffering from severe, untreated postpartum psychosis and was unable to control her actions at the time of the killings.

The prosecution does not dispute that Clancy struggled with significant mental health issues but argues she understood what she was doing and knew it was wrong.

Jurors have heard weeks of testimony from family members, medical professionals, and competing psychiatric experts who reached sharply different conclusions about Clancy’s mental state.

What happens next?

With no verdict after five days of deliberations and two declarations of deadlock, attention now shifts to Thursday.

Judge Sullivan dismissed jurors for the day shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday and instructed them to return Thursday morning to continue deliberations.

Whether jurors ultimately reach a unanimous decision, remain deadlocked, or force the court to consider a mistrial remains to be seen.

For now, the fate of the case remains in the hands of the 12 jurors tasked with deciding one of the most consequential criminal trials in Massachusetts in recent memory.

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