Clancy trial ends in hung jury after attorney’s attempt to avoid mistrial fails

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt held a brief hearing Friday afternoon about the mistrial delcaration and the lone holdout juror at the center of the Lindsay Clancy trial.

She denied the defense’s request.

Plymouth Superiour Court Judge William Sullivan then brought the jury into the courtoom and officially declared a mistrial in front of them, formally ending the trial.

Sullivan said a status hearing on the case will be held Sept. 29 at 9 a.m.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt held a brief hearing over Zoom Friday afternoon about the mistrial delcaration and the lone holdout juror at the center of it.

WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman explains what happened.

“We all went into this thinking the issue was whether or not a mistrial should be declared and then we hear Lindsay Clancy’s appellate counsel say ‘No, that’s not the issue.’ This issue is whether or not this judge could be given a clear instruction, which is known as a mandamus, to do some thing – whether that’s conduct a more detailed voir dire of this jury to determine if this juror who is refusing to apply the instruction of the law to reasonable doubt should be removed from the jury, if there’s cause to remove him,” Roman said.

“That’s a very different argument than what we were expecting to hear.”

Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt said she will take the matter under advisement. It’s not clear yet how long that will take.

You can watch live continuous coverage of the trial now on CBS News Boston.

The emergency stay granted by Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan was scheduled to be one-hour long and end at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

The state’s highest court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), started to review defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s request to stop Sullivan’s declaration of a mistrial at 1:30 p.m.

Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt heard the appeal. It lasted about 15 minutes with no immediate decision issued.

The court in Plymouth went into its standard daily lunch break at 1 p.m. Court will be back in session at 2 p.m.

If the SJC decides not to intervene, the jury will be brought into the courtroom, Sullivan will formally declare a mistrial in front of them and the trial will officially end.

If the SJC intervenes, what happens next remains to be seen.

Here is what’s happening now in the Lindsay Clancy trial:

Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial due to a hung jury at 11:25 a.m.

But, before the jury could be brought into the courtroom for the formal mistrial declaration, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington essentially called a timeout.

He asked the judge for permission to put the mistrial declaration on pause so he can file what is known as a 211 section 3 petition to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court. This is an emergency appeal to a single justice of the SJC asking them to intervene.

Reddington claims there are structural issues with this case due to the failure to remove a holdout juror.

It’s essentially a last, last, last ditch attempt to avoid a mistrial.

At 11:30 a.m. the judge gave Reddington one hour to file the emergency appeal with the SJC asking them to intervene in this case. 

The jury will now wait in the jury room for one hour and they will not know why.

Reddington filed his appeal to the SJC and hopes they say yes.

If the SJC does not intervene, a mistrial will be formally be declared in front of the jury.

You can watch complete coverage of the hung jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.

It is being streamed live from Plymouth Superior Court on CBS News Boston and on YouTube.

Moments after Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington asked the court and was granted a one hour for a stay of that mistrial ruling.

That request came at 11:30 a.m.

Reddington wants to file a single justice appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the highest court in the state, because he believes that the lone holdout juror that we learned about Thursday is essentially breaking the law. 

Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan held a hearing at 9 a.m. Friday before the jury was brought in to determine if the holdout juror should be dismissed, based on a request from Lindsay Clancy’s attorney. The hearing was short, but tense.

“I would go so far as to say he lied under oath,” Kevin Reddington said, calling for the juror to be removed. Sullivan rejected his request.

“I’m not going to do a further inquiry of this juror,” the judge said. “It’s their duty to accept the law as I’ve given it to them.”

Reddington then objected. While asking for a new inquiry, he told the judge he wanted Sullivan to do it more forcefully than his first inquiry of the juror on Thursday afternoon.

“You did it yesterday, you did it soft. You didn’t do it forcefully,” Reddington said.

“What do you want me to do? Get a brass band?” Sullivan shot back. “I read the instruction as written by the SJC (Supreme Judicial Court). The fact that I perhaps didn’t give it my full inflection, I’m sorry about that. I’m not an actor. I’m just giving the instructions.”

Reddington then accused the judge of “glossing over” the issue that the juror will “not apply the law of reasonable doubt.”

“I am specifically not glossing over this issue. I have thought about this issue long and hard,” Sullivan replied.

The jury was then brought in and they resumed deliberations at 9:25 a.m.

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington said the one holdout is not following the law. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi explained why this is so important.

“There’s a huge distinction between knowing what the law is and outrightly saying, ‘I will not follow it,’ versus knowing what the law is, saying ‘I’m applying the facts as I saw them in this case, to the law as I understand it from the judge and this is my position.’ That’s how the legal system works. If there is a holdout, there’s a holdout. That’s a hung jury and that would be a mistrial,” Polisi said on CBS Mornings Friday.

Reddington told reporters he wants to avoid a mistrial.

“This is getting really messy. I think we might be even creating new law. He sent these jurors back multiple times. It is getting ugly, we can tell. When jurors snitch on each other that’s when you can tell things are getting heated back in the jury room. This, in my opinion, is just heading towards that. It’s got to stop,” Polisi said.

WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman was asked if a mistrial would be considered a “win” for Lindsay Clancy’s defense. 

“I think a mistrial for the defense is favorable to a guilty finding, for sure,” Roman said. “I’m not sure that it’s necessarily a win. I think that Lindsay Clancy and her team, along with every other person involved in this case, would like resolution and would like this to be done. Certainly, if there’s a mistrial, there’s a very real possibility the case would be tried again.”

Roman added that the most likely scenario would be that there is another trial.

“And that, you know, just the thought of that carries a certain weight to it, and a certain emotional impact, I think, for everybody involved,” Roman said.

David Yannetti, who was Karen Read’s attorney during her two trials, spoke to WBZ-TV about the feeling attorneys have when juries are deadlocked.

“It is a very difficult position to be in. It can be upsetting. Speaking from experience, during the first Karen Read trial, this is pretty much how it went for us. We sent the jury out and we were very confident we had persuaded everybody that they should come back not guilty. We expected a quick verdict despite the length of the trial,” Yannetti said. “And when it dragged on, you can’t help but speculate on, what’s going on in there? How can somebody not go along with us? Who’s fighting? Who’s with us, who’s not? And you have zero answers because nobody’s in that jury room.”  

Yannetti added that the deadlocked jury means defense attorney Kevin Reddington presented a successful case.

“He has persuaded some on the jury, in my view, that she should not be convicted, and the reason is lack of criminal responsibility,” Yannetti said. 

Much of the Lindsay Clancy trial testimony revolved around mental health issues, including suicide. 

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

For more information about mental healthcare resources and support, the National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.