Judge indicates mistrial in Lindsay Clancy trial, then approves emergency delay

A judge indicated the Lindsay Clancy murder trial would end in a mistrial Friday, then granted the defense a one-hour delay in order to make a plea to the state’s highest court.

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Jurors sent a note Friday morning indicating for the third time that they were deadlocked. Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan told attorneys he was declaring a mistrial.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington then asked for time to make an emergency motion to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, requesting a stay in the verdict. Sullivan gave him one hour to do so, delaying making the mistrial official.

The 12 jurors deliberated for more than 36 hours over the course of seven days, after hearing 85 witnesses testify during the trial. Twice during that time, they reported to the judge that they were deadlocked, and twice the judge told them to return to deliberations.

There is no word yet from prosecutors on whether they would retry Clancy. She admitted to killing 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan in their Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023. However, her attorneys argued that she was not criminally responsible because she was overmedicated and suffering from postpartum psychosis. 

At the end of Thursday, it appeared the jury was split 11-1. The jury foreperson sent a note to Sullivan claiming that a single juror was not following the court’s orders about reasonable doubt.

According to Reddington, that note stated the single holdout “has made statements acknowledging doubt but refuses to apply it to the verdict as the law states.”

Sullivan denied a motion by Reddington to dismiss that juror and a second request on Friday to further question the juror. Instead, the judge repeated his instructions to the jury on the meaning of reasonable doubt. “You are required to follow my instructions on the law as I gave them to you,” Sullivan said in part Thursday. “I’ve told you that every person is presumed to be innocent until they are proved guilty and that the burden of proof is on the prosecutor.”

Jurors returned to deliberations at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, before telling the judge they were still deadlocked around 11 a.m.

To reach a verdict, the jury had to unanimously vote for one of five options – not guilty by reason of insanity, not guilty, first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.  

If a mistrial becomes official, it is presumed that Clancy will return to Tewksbury Hospital, a psychiatric facility where she’s been held for the last three years, to await the next steps in the case.

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