After 21 days of testimony, 38 hours of deliberation, and a desperate 11th-hour appeal attempt from the defense, a Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday.
The Mistrial
The 12-person jury – made up of nine women and three men – failed to reach a verdict in the highly polarized case. The defense attorney in the case revealed it was one male juror that stopped the group from reaching a unanimous decision.
The mistrial did not come as a surprise after the jury had sent out notes on Tuesday and Wednesday telling Judge William Sullivan they were at an impasse. On Thursday, the foreperson wrote a note claiming there was one holdout juror. The defense alleged the lone objector “refus[ed] to listen to the law.”
Following a third deadlock note from the jury Friday morning, Clancy’s team filed an emergency appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to block a mistrial and replace the holdout. The court denied the request, and Judge Sullivan said he did not “have any choice but to declare a mistrial”
The Case
Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, has never disputed that she killed her three children – 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan – with exercise bands in the basement of their family home on January 24, 2023. She also tried to take her own life, which left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Instead, the case was based on whether Clancy knew what she was doing when she committed the heinous act. Prosecutors allege Clancy acted deliberately when she strangled her children. They argued she plotted to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine and dinner.
But her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said she should not be held criminally responsible because of “postpartum psychosis,” a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation, and hormonal changes following childbirth.
The alleged mental health struggles are said to have begun after her youngest son’s birth. As was documented during the trial, she sought care from multiple providers and mental health institutions prior to the murders. On the witness stand, her former mother-in-law described Clancy as “begging for help.”
Reddington claimed his client heard a voice telling her to kill her children and herself.
What Comes Next
Clancy will not get to go free as a result of the hung jury. She will instead remain at Tewksbury Hospital in Massachusetts, where she has been held for the past three years, until a decision is made on a retrial.
Prosecutors must decide whether to try the case a second time, negotiate a plea deal, or drop the charges entirely. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told reporters outside the courthouse Friday that there would not be an immediate decision about a second trial.
“This was and has always been about getting justice for those beautiful babies,” Cruz said.
The next hearing is set for September 29.
Legal Analysis
On Friday, Megyn went live with continuing coverage of the court proceedings with top attorneys from MK Media’s MK True Crime channel. Watch their reaction and analysis below:
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