Lindsay Clancy trial (live updates): Mistrial ruling delayed as defense files emergency stay appeal

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Jury deliberations continue Friday in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial as the judge addressed a new issue that defense attorneys said may be preventing the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict.

On Friday morning, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion, asking the judge to stop holding sidebar discussions during the trial and have future arguments and proceedings handled in open court.

Reddington and Judge Sullivan got into a heated exchange after the judge ruled that he would not question the potential holdout juror further before sending the nine women and three men back to continue deliberations for a seventh day.

The jury is going into its seventh day of deliberation, continuing to weigh whether Clancy is criminally responsible for her actions in the deaths of her three children in Duxbury in January 2023, despite informing Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan for a second time on Wednesday that it was deadlocked and unable to agree on a verdict.

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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 Thursday

The deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Thursday in a dramatic sixth day of deliberations.

Clancy’s defense lawyer told the judge that the panel’s foreperson said in a note that a single juror won’t follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt and was holding up a verdict.

Before sending the jury home on Thursday, the judge refused the defense’s request to remove one of the jurors following heated discussions among the parties.

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.

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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?

Reddington asked the judge on Thursday to consider removing the juror, but Judge Sullivan declined to take sides in the jury’s deliberations.

“There’s no way to determine what the deliberations are, who’s correct, who’s incorrect, nor should we,” Sullivan said. “I don’t feel that it is proper for me to side with one side or the other.”

The judge is expected to conduct an inquiry Friday morning, though it remains unclear exactly what questions he will ask the juror or the full panel.

Reddington said he wants any arguments over the issue to take place in open court rather than at sidebar.

The jury first began deliberating last Thursday and has twice informed the judge that it has been unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

For now, the case remains in the hands of the 12 jurors as they return Friday morning for another day of deliberations.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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