Three jurors from the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, which ended in a mistrial last week, have come forward to discuss the deliberations, confirming there was one person on the panel who expressed reasonable doubt but wouldn’t agree to a verdict.
Roni Carlson, the jury foreperson and a retired fifth-grade teacher, said that being unable to reach a unanimous verdict after a draining trial was “awful” and an “emotional rollercoaster.”
Carlson said she wrote the final jury note to the judge “with a heavy heart.”
“I was so sad, so sad that we couldn’t come up with a verdict for Lindsay. It was so heartbreaking,” she told NBC News on Tuesday.
Carlson described the jury deliberations as highly emotional, with “lots of crying, lots of telling, just lots of tears and then hugging.”
The foreperson, who was among three jurors who spoke to NBC10 Boston on Tuesday, said a male juror “admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms, I was so excited,” the foreperson said.
But she said that the holdout juror added, “But I’m still not going to say that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Carlson said the remaining juror was unable to “articulate anything, really” and “was very closed off.”
NBC10 Boston has attempted to reach out to that juror as described by other members of the panel
In Tuesday’s interview, Carlson and two other jurors said the group argued so much during deliberations that the six alternate jurors could hear them and thought they were fighting a lot. But they were determined to come to a verdict.
There were also hugs, as well as words and actions of self-care, they said — the three women who spoke to NBC10 Boston said they have become fast friends.
The three jurors — Carlson; Kellie Farina, a senior center chef; and Paula Devlin, who works for a defense contractor — had criticism for the prosecution.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s style resonated with the jurors as more authentic, they said.
Carlson told NBC News that, if there is a retrial, she plans to attend in support Clancy’s defense, but added that she hopes that doesn’t happen.
