{"id":223276,"date":"2026-09-06T12:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/judge-declares-mistrial-in-lindsay-clancy-case-after-jury-deadlocked-again-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T12:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:03:16","slug":"judge-declares-mistrial-in-lindsay-clancy-case-after-jury-deadlocked-again-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/judge-declares-mistrial-in-lindsay-clancy-case-after-jury-deadlocked-again-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case after jury deadlocked again – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense lawyer had asked for time to request emergency stay after jury was split 11 to one
The judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts<\/a> mother accused of killing her three young children, has declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations<\/a>.
Jurors in Plymouth state court spent more than 38 hours in deliberations over the charges against the 36-year-old woman, which came on the heels of a weeks-long trial that directed national attention to maternal mental health issues that can occur postpartum.
The 12-person jury was made up of nine women and three men and, according to the notes given to the court, was split 11 to one.
After the jury returned without a verdict for the third time, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial but was interrupted by a last-minute request from Clancy\u2019s lead defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, who requested one hour to petition for an emergency stay to seek relief from a superior court judge.
That emergency filing with the Massachusetts<\/a> supreme judicial court asked a single justice to order Sullivan to further question the dissenting juror, arguing the juror was \u201cbiased\u201d and, per jury notes, unwilling to follow the court\u2019s instructions on reasonable doubt.
\u201cIntervention is necessary in this case to avoid an avoidable mistrial of a case that is so time and labor intensive and that has captured so much public attention,\u201d the filing reads, which also claimed that the court had \u201cabdicated its responsibility to ensure the integrity of the jury\u201d.
The filing also asked that the juror be barred from further deliberations if Sullivan determined that they could not follow the instructions issued by the court.
\u201cA mistrial at this point is entirely avoidable, but only if the court does its job,\u201d the filing says.
Additionally, the filing claimed the court \u201creflects a bias against those who suffer from debilitating mental illness\u201d, arguing that mental illness is a \u201cprotected category\u201d under the fifth and 14th amendments of the US constitution.
The filing was discussed with the Massachusetts supreme court justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt during a Zoom hearing that was open to the public for viewing. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague summarized what happened with the jury and their repeated notes indicating a deadlock before defense attorney Dana Goldblatt argued that the supreme judicial court had the discretion to order the trial court to make the inquiry of the juror. Wendlandt then said she would take the matter under advisement.
The petition was subsequently denied.
Clancy, a former neonatal and delivery nurse, had been accused of strangling her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, in the family\u2019s Duxbury home in January 2023.
Prosecutors argued in opening statements that Clancy had \u201ccoldly and efficiently executed\u201d her children, doing so with \u201cno hesitation, with deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty\u201d after she \u201cdrew her husband out of the house, their father, so that she had the opportunity and the time to carry out these murders\u201d.
But Clancy\u2019s defense team argued she was \u201csuffering from psychosis\u201d when she killed her children and allegedly attempted suicide by jumping from an upper window in her home, which left her partly paralyzed. Reddington told jurors that Clancy suffered from postpartum depression<\/a> after giving birth to her third child, Callan, and been prescribed a variety of medications.
\u201cThis is a young woman who, with her husband, tried very hard to get the help she needed,\u201d he said.
Clancy has not denied that she killed her children, but her not-guilty plea was predicated on a lack of criminal responsibility because, as her defense team said, she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, which included auditory hallucinations that commanded her to harm her children, and undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Under Massachusetts law, the defendant must have \u201cretained the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of their conduct and to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law\u201d in order to be found guilty.
Throughout the trial, jurors heard from Clancy\u2019s former husband Patrick Clancy<\/a>, her mother and aunt, and an array of psychologists<\/a> and treating physicians. The court heard that Clancy had been prescribed 13 different medications for anxiety and sleep, which the defense said may have exacerbated her symptoms of depression.
Clancy had checked herself into a psychiatric clinic in the weeks before the killings. Later, on 24 January 2023, she sent her then husband out for food and to collect pharmacy medications. In that time, police say, she strangled their children with exercise bands. Her ability to orchestrate a window of time to carry out the killings, prosecutors argued, was evidence of premeditation.
Before resting his case last week, Reddington called forensic psychiatrist Dr Phillip Resnick to testify that Clancy had \u201csevere depression\u201d and a history of anxiety, which increased after the birth of her children to the point that she \u201cfelt she couldn\u2019t function\u201d.
\u201cAt the time of the crime on Jan 24, 2023, Ms Clancy was frankly psychotic,\u201d Resnick said. \u201cShe was clearly psychotic on that day.\u201d
After the declaration of the mistrial, prosecutors have the option of trying Clancy again. The court has set a status conference for 9am ET on 29 September.
Clancy\u2019s criminal trial will be followed by a civil claim brought by both Lindsay and Patrick Clancy against her medical and mental healthcare providers. The former couple claim the providers committed medical malpractice by failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor her severe postpartum psychiatric condition.
After formally declaring the mistrial, the judge thanked the jury for their time and consideration.
\u201cEach one of you knew how long the case was going to go. You knew how difficult the case was going to be to listen to facts-wise, but still, you braced for that duty,\u201d Sullivan said before dismissing them.
He also indicated that should there be a re-trial, he would want it to happen \u201csometime in the fall\u201d.
Plymouth county district attorney Tim Cruz told reporters that Clancy\u2019s trial had been \u201can emotional trial for everybody\u201d.
\u201cThis was and has always been about getting justice for those three little babies,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cWe\u2019re here at this courthouse today because those children are not. Our priority has always been to fight for Cora, for Dawson and for Callan.\u201d
Cruz also praised assistant district attorneys Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham, whom he said \u201care both mothers themselves \u2013 and went home to their families after each long day in court\u201d.
Reddington addressed reporters outside the courthouse, too, saying that Cruz \u201cknows he was crushed\u201d.
\u201cI\u2019m representing a woman who is a fantastic, wonderful individual,\u201d Reddington said. \u201cThis woman is so brave, so awesome. She sat there through seven weeks of the trial, where nobody had anything bad to say about her except the two prosecutors.\u201d
Reddington also thanked the jury, \u201cminus one\u201d \u2013 referring to the holdout juror whom he said he \u201chope[s] they can sleep at night\u201d.
In response to how Clancy\u2019s parents are doing after the mistrial, Reddington said: \u201cNot good.\u201d
\u201cThey know that they were robbed by one [juror] for whatever [their] agenda was,\u201d Reddington remarked. \u201cAnd I got a funny feeling that [the jury] would have gone on for another week if they had to. So I hope that [juror] can sleep well at night.\u201d
\u201cIf we didn\u2019t have that one individual, we would\u2019ve had a verdict and we would be out of here,\u201d he continued. He added that Clancy is \u201clike a daughter to me\u201d.
It was not immediately known what outcome the 11 decided jurors had voted for.
Reddington had earlier said that, judging from a jury note, one juror \u201cclearly and unequivocally\u201d would not apply the concept of reasonable doubt \u201cto the evidence to return a not guilty verdict\u201d.
Reddington also said that if Clancy is retried, he will \u201crequest\u201d that the jury be sequestered.
After Friday\u2019s mistrial declaration, Patrick Clancy\u2019s lawyer, David Meier, issued a statement saying his client was \u201cgrateful to the court and to the jurors for their hard work, their commitment and their perseverance\u201d.
\u201cThe loss of Patrick\u2019s children is something from which he will never recover and from which there will never be closure,\u201d said<\/a> the statement, obtained by a CBS Boston reporter. \u201cThe prospect of reliving this tragedy through another trial is extraordinarily painful \u2013 for Patrick, for his family and for all us.\u201d
Donald Trump also weighed in on the trial, telling reporters at the White House that the case was a \u201chorrible tragedy\u201d and a \u201cterrible situation\u201d.
\u201cI assume there\u2019s going to be another trial,\u201d the president said. \u201cShe did a horrible, horrible thing. Can\u2019t be worse.
\u201cThere\u2019ll be a price. It\u2019s going to be a mental institution or jail or something … It\u2019s too bad.\u201d
<\/span> In the US, the national maternal mental health hotline<\/a> is 1-833-852-6262. In the UK, the Pandas foundation<\/a> offers support via Whatsapp on 07903 508334. In Australia, the national maternal and perinatal mental health hotline<\/a> is 1300 726 306<\/em><\/p>\n

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Defense lawyer had asked for time to request emergency stay after jury was split 11 to oneThe judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, has declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations.Jurors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}