Mistrial declared in Massachusetts case of Lindsay Clancy
A judge in the US state of Massachusetts declared a mistrial in the case of 36-year-old Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of killing her three children. Jurors in Plymouth failed to reach a unanimous verdict after more than 38 hours of deliberations, The Guardian reports.
Jurors failed to reach a verdict
The jury informed the court three times that it could not reach a decision. According to the publication, after a week of deliberations, the jurors were split 11 to 1.
Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial after the jurors returned for the third time without a verdict. Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, filed a last-minute motion seeking an hour to appeal to a higher-court judge for an emergency stay of the decision. Prosecutors may decide whether to hold a new trial.
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Positions of the parties
Clancy, who previously worked as a nurse in neonatal and maternity units, is accused of killing her three children at the family home in Duxbury in January 2023: five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. According to police, the children were strangled with exercise bands.
Prosecutors argued that Clancy had planned the killings in advance, including by sending her then-husband out for food and medicine. The defense maintained that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time of the events, had severe depression, and a history of anxiety. Lawyers also said she had been prescribed 13 medications for anxiety and insomnia that could have worsened her depression symptoms.
The court heard testimony from Clancy's former husband, her mother and aunt, as well as psychologists and doctors. Forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick told jurors that on January 24, 2023, Clancy was “clearly psychotic.” Under Massachusetts law, for a conviction, jurors had to find that the defendant understood the wrongfulness of her actions and was able to control her conduct in accordance with the law.
