PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The judge has declared a mistrial in the Massachusetts murder case that has captivated headlines and put a spotlight on postpartum health.
Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial were unable to reach a unanimous verdict after more than 7 days of deliberations.
The final ruling comes after Clancy’s defense made a last-minute effort to continue the trial through the state’s highest court.
Judge Sullivan indicated shortly before noon on Friday that he was prepared to declare a mistrial but allowed defense attorney Kevin Reddington an hour-long delay to seek intervention from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
A justice heard the appeal, but when the court reconvened around 2:20 p.m., Judge Sullivan revealed that the appeal was unsuccessful and the mistrial ruling would be made official.
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 deaths of Cora Clancy, Dawson Clancy and Callan Clancy. Her three children were all under the age of 5 when they were found strangled to death in the basement of their Duxbury home.
Clancy was found lying in the snow outside after a failed suicide attempt. She is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Her defense argued that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her children and had been overmedicated. The Commonwealth argued that Clancy premeditated the killings after sending her husband out to get takeout and medication and should be held criminally responsible.
Three men and nine women deliberated for 7 days, with options to find Clancy guilty of first-degree murder, manslaughter, or not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
Dramatic final days in court
Judge Sullivan ruled that he was going to declare a mistrial after the jurors returned with a third note, explaining that they still could not come to a consensus.
Reddington then went back and forth with Judge Sullivan before the judge allowed the defense attorney an hour to get a SJC justice to intervene.
“What I’m asking for is time to file a single-justice appeal for this travesty,” Reddington said.
A SJC hearing took place at 1:30 p.m. Friday but the state’s top court in Massachusetts refused to stand in judge Sullivan’s way of declaring a mistrial.
Friday’s dramatic outcome follows a stunning day in court Thursday after the jury’s foreperson told the judge that a single juror wouldn’t follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt.
Reddington pleaded for the judge to question the juror and pushed for the judge to replace the potential holdout juror with an alternate, but Judge Sullivan said a juror may be discharged only for reasons personal to that juror.
On Friday morning, Reddington also took issue with the judge deciding the jurors should continue deliberating Friday as usual without any inquiry or acknowledgement of Thursday’s dramatic events.
“I’m concerned that if you do that, that foreperson is going to feel that that is some type of the she violated something and might feel that, Your Honor, is kind of coming down on her not to do that. And I think it’s too delicate right now in this situation,” Reddington said. “And in addition, and finally, I soft ask that you not just give them, as they described yesterday, a soft inquiry where you would listen to my instructions. I would ask that you specifically direct their attention to proof beyond a reasonable doubt and re-instruct them on that forcefully.”
“I think you did yesterday, didn’t I?” Judge Sullivan said, referring to his reminding of the jury of their instructions regarding reasonable doubt.
“You did it soft. You didn’t do it forcefully,” Reddington retorted.
“What do you want me to do?!” Judge Sullivan spat back.
" I want you to get a grasp," Reddington replied.
Jurors went on to deliberate for around 90 minutes before returning their third and final note that they could not reach a consensus verdict.
911 call
The trial lasted a little over a month in Plymouth Superior Court, with more than 70 witnesses called by the Commonwealth.
Jurors heard the 911 call from Clancy’s ex-husband Patrick Clancy, who testified that on the day of the murders, Clancy was having one of her “best days” when she sent him out to get takeout and medication for their daughter.
When he came home, he found the house unusually silent and discovered his wife outside.
He soon found his children in the basement with exercise bands around their necks, telling the dispatcher, “She killed the kids!”
“Patrick Clancy is grateful to the Court and to the jurors for their hard work, their commitment, and their perseverance. The loss of Patrick’s children is something from which he will never recover and from which there will never be closure. The prospect of reliving this tragedy through another trial is extraordinarily painful -- for Patrick, for his family, and for all us,” Patrick Clancy’s attorney shared in a statement.
Testimony from health providers
Jurors also heard testimony from Clancy’s former health providers, including Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who diagnosed Clancy with generalized anxiety and mood disorder.
Clancy and her family are currently suing Tufts and other health providers for negligence.
Tufts was one of many providers Clancy saw in the months leading up to the deaths of her three children, with 25-minute video sessions that Clancy’s defense criticized.
Witnesses described Clancy’s declining mental health, including her mother, who testified in late December that Lindsay told her and Patrick she had thoughts about hurting the children.
She struggled with sleeping and suicidal thoughts, especially after the birth of her last child, Callan. Lindsay’s mother-in-law, Sue Clancy, referred her to a program at South Shore for mothers struggling with postpartum issues, where she also sought care.
“I now have horrible insomnia and anxiety which is causing depression. And I have no appetite. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want help. I want to be well,” one of Clancy’s journals detailed. “If feel disconnected with my baby (Callan) going through the motions every day.”
Many witnesses testified that Lindsay was a caring and loving mother before they noticed her mental health struggles, including the children’s nanny, who testified that Clancy had shared with her sleeping and postpartum issues.
Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington said Clancy called the suicide hotline twice and was turned away. He also said she tried to admit herself to a program at Women and Infants, where they indicated she was overmedicated.
“What did you do? You had a woman who was telling you she felt hopeless,” Reddington asked Tufts.
“I told her that this was something we could address, that there was hope, that there are treatments, that there are different types of programs,” Tufts said, “so she knew that she still had options and a reason to hope.”
At one point, Clancy’s attorney indicated that all her health providers did was check off boxes and prescribe numerous medications, including Tufts.
Tufts indicated that Clancy never had a plan for killing herself and never expressed thoughts of killing her children. She also didn’t think Clancy had psychosis.
The prosecution argued that Clancy’s health providers were “doing the best they could” with her level of cooperation. Not only did Clancy not take the pills as prescribed, they argued, but she continued to seek treatment elsewhere and wanted the medication to work quickly.
Tufts testified Clancy even told her she had to work on sticking to one provider.
The voice
Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist, testified for the defense that he saw Clancy in the hospital after she killed her children.
Zeizel told the jury he let Clancy use his cell phone to call her husband, during which she told him she heard a male voice on the night of the murders, commanding her, telling her she had no choice.
He said he believed Clancy was going through postpartum psychosis when she killed her children. A chaplain also corroborated Zeizel’s statement, saying Clancy told her she had also heard a voice.
“My opinion is that she did indeed have a mental disease or defect. She had bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis,” Dr. Zeizel testified.
The defense’s expert on filicide, Philip Resnick, said he examined Clancy four months after the murders and also believed Clancy was experiencing psychosis and postpartum symptoms on the day of the murders. Resnick has testified in high-profile cases like Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, and Casey Anthony.
“Even though she understood that ordinarily killing a child was against the law, she believed she was doing what was right for her children with her distorted psychotic thinking about the children’s need for her,” Resnick testified.
The prosecution’s experts told the jury they believed Clancy knew right from wrong, with one cutting off the postpartum period at four months and did not believe she had hallucinated voices.
“There’s no reason why psychosis in and of itself inhibits a person’s ability from knowing right from wrong,” Dr. Avram Mack, an expert for the prosecution testified.
“She speaks about them,” Dr. Paul Zeilzel said, speaking about Clancy and her children. “She really loves them, misses them, and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day.”
Closings
Both sides had an hour for their closings, with Reddington showing photos of Clancy with her children.
“This is a prosecution that has ripped the soul out of this girl,” Reddington told the jury.
“(She was) visiting doctors, seeing doctors, going to Rhode Island. Sorry, we can’t help you. Calling a suicide hotline, we can’t help. Calling another suicide hotline, we can’t help. My God, what does she have to do? She was reaching out for help, and she was not getting it,” Reddington said.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said Clancy was frustrated over her mental health struggles and killed her children as part of a failed suicide attempt.
“Why did she specifically do it? She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore,” Sprague said.
Sprague also argued that the case was not about the mental health system or how it treats women.
“That’s a distraction to get you angry and passionate about an important issue, but an issue that’s not on trial here,” she said.
Spotlight on postpartum
The trial has shined a light on mothers struggling with postpartum health. Supporters for Lindsay Clancy showed up at the courthouse wearing pink in solidarity and expressed that they hoped this case would expose the failures in the mental health system and spark a wider conversation about supporting mothers with postpartum.
Supporters also showed up at Plymouth Superior Courthouse wearing white, saying this case was about getting justice for Callan, Cora, and Dawson, who were taken from this world by the very person they trusted the most.
What does a mistrial mean?
A mistrial means that the jury was not able to come to a unanimous verdict between the 12 jurors. It happened in the case of Karen Read. Her case was tried again a year later, where she was ultimately found not guilty for the murder of her police officer boyfriend.
Lindsay Clancy’s case can be brought to trial again, or it can be dropped in its entirety, but it is up to Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz. He can also try to negotiate a plea deal with Clancy and her lawyers.
It’s most likely that Lindsay Clancy will remain at Tewksbury State Hospital where her fate will remain uncertain for the time being.
Life in prison with no parole is the maximum sentence for first-degree murder charge in Massachusetts.
If you are struggling, you can reach out to the suicide or crisis hotline at 988.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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