Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy told a Massachusetts judge on Tuesday (September 1) that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict over whether she should be convicted in the deaths of her three young children.
Judge William Sullivan, presiding over the trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, instructed the jury to continue deliberating after receiving the note. The deliberations entered their fourth day Tuesday, following a trial that has lasted nearly six weeks.
“After many hours of deliberation, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision,” the jury said in its note, according to Sullivan.
The judge acknowledged the length of the trial but directed jurors to return to the deliberation room and continue considering the case while following the instructions he had given them.
What is a hung jury?
A jury is considered hung when jurors cannot reach the unanimous decision required for a verdict after deliberating for an extended period.
However, Tuesday’s note does not necessarily mean the jury is officially hung.
In this case, Sullivan has asked the jurors to continue deliberating. They could still reach a unanimous verdict and return to court with a decision.
If jurors ultimately remain deadlocked, the judge could declare a mistrial because of a hung jury. At that point, prosecutors could seek to retry the case with a new jury rather than accepting an acquittal.
A hung jury is different from a not-guilty verdict. If Clancy were acquitted, prosecutors generally could not retry her for the same offences because of protections against double jeopardy. A mistrial caused by a genuinely deadlocked jury, however, can allow a new trial.
What is Lindsay Clancy accused of?
Clancy, 36, is accused of killing her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — at the family’s home in Duxbury on January 24, 2023.
There is no dispute that the children died after being strangled with exercise bands in the basement of the home.
Clancy subsequently cut herself and jumped from a second-storey window in an apparent suicide attempt. She survived but was left paralysed.
Her defence attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed the children. He has asked jurors to find her not guilty by reason of insanity.
Witnesses testified that Clancy later said she heard a man’s voice telling her that she would lose her chance if she did not act. Reddington has argued that this was evidence of the psychotic episode he says she was experiencing at the time.
What prosecutors argued
Prosecutors have focused on events immediately before the killings, including evidence that Clancy sent her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, out to collect a food order and visit a pharmacy.
Prosecutors highlighted evidence that she had mapped the time it would take him to return home.
When Patrick returned, he found Clancy injured in the backyard. He then went to the basement and discovered the children with exercise bands around their necks.
Clancy faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. If she is found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would instead be committed to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation.
