Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial were sent back for a fifth day of deliberations on Wednesday after they issued a deadlock note to the judge on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, just after court was dismissed around 3:30 p.m., Dawn Light, 56, from Sutton, Massachusetts, was arrested outside of the courthouse in Plymouth, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts state police confirmed. The state police said there was no further information on the arrest at this time.
Light was arraigned Wednesday on one charge of aggravated intimidation of jurors, witnesses, police or court officials.
She pleaded not guilty and claimed that she was not taking photos and videos outside of court, rather, she was waiting for Clancy to exit so she could wave to the defendant. But when officials asked to look through Light’s phone, they found photos and videos of people — including jurors — exiting the courthouse Tuesday.
Light’s defense attorney claimed she was trying to get a photo of Clancy. It was a “complete misunderstanding,” her lawyer said Wednesday, and Light has the “utmost respect” for the judicial process.
The judge did not impose bail, but said Light must stay away from the courthouse, court grounds, and any jurors and witnesses. Light must also refrain from disseminating or producing any photos that may be on her iCloud account in relation to the incident.
Tuesday was the first time the public got a glimpse into the jury’s thinking. After just about an hour of deliberations, the group of nine women and three men returned to the courtroom to alert Judge William Sullivan that there had so far been no unanimous decision reached among them.
Sullivan sent the jury back to the deliberation room and encouraged them to reach a verdict. According to Massachusetts law, a judge can only ask a jury to keep deliberating twice, unless the jury consents to further deliberations. If the jury still cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the judge can declare a mistrial.
The judge kicked off court Wednesday by appearing to speak briefly to each of the 12 jurors — and alternate jurors — individually in a sidebar before sending them out for deliberations.
It was not immediately clear what Sullivan asked each of the jurors, but he said he asked them each one question.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington spoke to reporters outside of court Wednesday morning, and called the jury “incredibly hardworking.”
When asked how long he expects it will be before a verdict is returned, Reddington said he didn’t know, but he said he did not have any concerns about a second trial, should this one end in a hung jury.
On Tuesday, Reddington told reporters that he would “absolutely” go to trial again.
The jury must decide whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — on Jan 24., 2023.
Clancy’s defense team has argued she was compelled to act on auditory hallucinations that night, a symptom of the postpartum psychosis they said she was experiencing at the time. She sought extensive mental health care, they said, but doctors failed her by overprescribing her medications.
The prosecution, though, has argued that Clancy was not actually in psychosis when she strangled her children with exercise bands and threw herself out of her bedroom window in a suicide attempt that left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair. They said she planned the attacks ahead of time and purposefully sent her then-husband out of the home so she could carry out the killings.
While the prosecution has sought a first-degree murder conviction, which would carry a life sentence, the jury can also convict Clancy of lesser charges — second-degree murder or manslaughter — or deem her not guilty due to lack of criminal responsibility.
