The jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial did not reach a verdict Tuesday and was instructed by the judge to return to court Wednesday for a fifth day of deliberations.
The jury requested to be excused for the day hours after telling Judge William Sullivan that it was deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous decision. Sullivan had told the jury to continue deliberating.
After returning to the courtroom briefly just after 3:30 p.m. ET, Sullivan excused the jury.
Clancy, wearing a green top, looked at the jurors as Sullivan thanked them for their work in the case.
Under Massachusetts law, Sullivan can encourage the jury to go back to the jury room, but not more than twice unless the jury consents to it. If the jury still cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the judge can declare a mistrial.
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, told reporters outside the courthouse that he doesn’t know what the jury being deadlocked means for the case.
“I don’t know that it’s a good sign, a bad sign or any sign,” he said. “They’re working hard to try to come to a decision.”
Before court began Tuesday, Reddington had said that he would “absolutely” go to trial again if the verdict ends in a hung jury.
“Maybe today’s the day; we’ll see. I don’t know,” said Reddington, who is representing Clancy in a murder trial that will determine if she is criminally liable in the killings of her three young children.
The attorney said he has “really strong faith” in the jury, noting that members showed attentiveness throughout the five-week trial.
When asked by a reporter what a hung jury would mean, Reddington responded: “Try it again.”
“Would you do the trial again if there’s a hung jury?” another reporter asked.
“Absolutely,” Reddington said.
Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor with expertise in criminal and mental disability law, said that generally “the longer a jury remains deadlocked, the greater the possibility of a hung jury.”
“Deadlocks are not uncommon in complex, emotionally charged cases, particularly when jurors must evaluate extensive evidence and conflicting expert testimony,” Cucolo said.
But if the jury continues to be at loggerheads, the judge could give the panel a supplemental instruction commonly referred to as a “dynamite charge,” Cucolo said. In Massachusetts, this instruction is known as a “Tuey Rodriguez charge,” or simply a “Rodriguez charge.”
“The purpose is to encourage jurors to re-examine their positions, consider differing viewpoints and work toward a unanimous verdict without abandoning their sincerely held convictions,” Cucolo said.
Asked what might be deadlocking this jury, Cucolo said, “It is difficult to know from the outside.”
“However, given the issues presented in this case, the disagreement may stem from differing views of the psychiatric and medical evidence, as well as questions concerning intent, premeditation and criminal responsibility,” she said.
Veteran Boston defense attorney Brad Bailey said it’s likely the jury is stuck because both the prosecution and the defense presented “extremely persuasive cases.”
“I have been predicting that there is a very good chance this could end with a hung jury,” Bailey said. “Now, I expect the judge is going to get a second and then a third deadlock note after which he has to declare a mistrial.”
The 12-person jury made up of nine women and three men began deliberating Thursday afternoon. The jury had one question Friday when it asked the judge to review pill bottles and a knife that had been entered into evidence.
The jury is weighing whether to convict Clancy of first-degree murder after she was accused of using exercise bands to strangle her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — in the basement of their Duxbury home in January 2023. Her then-husband, who was running errands at the time, found her outside underneath a second-story window following a suicide attempt that left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Clancy’s attorney has argued that she was in a state of postpartum psychosis and heard a voice at the time of the killings. According to Clancy’s legal team, she had previously sought help for mental health issues.
Prosecutors, however, said she was not in psychosis and planned the murders ahead of time.
The jury also has the option to convict her of lesser charges, including second-degree murder and manslaughter, or absolve her of the crime or deem her not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility. If the jury finds her not criminally responsible, that means that jurors believe she could not control her actions because she was in psychosis.
The case has garnered national headlines, fueling social media chatter and podcasts for weeks as spectators debate postpartum mental illness and the gaps in maternal healthcare raised during the trial. Supporters of Clancy, often dressed in pink, have gathered outside the Plymouth, Massachusetts, courthouse and sat in the gallery throughout the trial.
