A mistrial has officially been declared in the closely watched murder trial of Lindsay Clancy after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict following seven days of deliberations.
According to CBS News, Judge William Sullivan granted the mistrial Friday afternoon (Sept. 5) after the jury of nine women and three men spent more than 38 hours deliberating over whether Clancy should be held criminally responsible for killing her three young children. The jury informed the court Friday morning that it remained hopelessly deadlocked.
"It's with a heavy heart, that we cannot come to a unanimous decision, and we will not be able to," the jury said in a note to Sullivan.
Prosecutors recommended that Sullivan declare a mistrial, but Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, fought to keep the case alive. Reddington requested that jurors be polled and sought additional questioning involving one juror whose conduct had become a point of contention during deliberations.
Reddington also requested an emergency stay so the defense could seek relief from Massachusetts' highest court. Sullivan temporarily delayed declaring the mistrial to give the defense an opportunity to file its request.
Around 2:15 p.m., Sullivan announced that the emergency request had been denied and officially declared a mistrial. The judge then began discussing potential dates for another trial and future proceedings.
The defense is now expected to pursue a Rule 25 motion seeking a required finding of not guilty, arguing that the evidence presented by prosecutors was legally insufficient to support a conviction. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for Sept. 29.
The mistrial follows an unusually contentious deliberation process. Earlier in the week, jurors twice informed Sullivan that they couldn't reach a unanimous decision, but were instructed to continue deliberating.
On the sixth day, Sullivan individually questioned all 12 jurors and again instructed them on reasonable doubt. Reddington pushed for further questioning of one juror, but Sullivan declined. Their disagreement became heated enough that Sullivan at one point responded to the attorney, "What do you want, a brass band?"
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.
The central dispute at trial wasn't whether Clancy killed her children inside the family's Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023. Her attorneys acknowledged that she did.
Instead, the five-week trial centered on her mental state and whether she was legally responsible for her actions. The defense argued that severe mental illness prevented Clancy from understanding the wrongfulness of her actions or controlling her behavior. Prosecutors maintained that despite her mental illness, Clancy understood what she was doing and knew it was wrong.
Jurors had several potential verdicts for each child's death, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, or not guilty.
