Three jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial are facing backlash online after saying they were “excited” to complete the verdict forms and describing her defense attorney as “entertaining.”
Clancy, 36, stood trial over the deaths of her three young children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023.
The case ended in a mistrial Friday after five weeks of emotional testimony and more than 37 hours of deliberations, when Judge William Sullivan learned that one juror would not agree to a not-guilty verdict despite acknowledging reasonable doubt.
On Tuesday, three women from the 12-person jury spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with NBC Boston.
Jury foreperson Roni Carlson said she felt “excited” to fill out the verdict forms after the holdout juror conceded there was reasonable doubt in the case.
‘I started filling out the forms. I was so excited. There were three forms I had to fill out, and then he said, “But I’m still not going to say she’s not guilty,”‘ Carlson said.
Critics have slammed Carlson for saying she was ‘excited’ to fill out the papers for a not guilty verdict.
‘The harpies on the Clancy trial jury are lashing out at the one juror who stood in their way because “he had the hardest time getting off the fact that Lindsay viciously killed her children,”‘ failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt wrote on X.
Jury foreperson Roni Carlson told NBC Boston that she was ‘excited’ to fill out the verdict forms when the holdout juror admitted there was reasonable doubt
Lindsay Clancy, 36, admitted to strangling her children, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis
‘Woo boy. We are cooked.’
Another person wrote: ‘They literally just admitted that all they wanted was to go home. Pathetic.’
‘These women are lunatics. They are getting excited about releasing a child killer. Society has some serious problems,’ a third person wrote.
‘Disgusted. This is disgusting. “Excited” to call this killer innocent after brutally murdering her own babies,’ added a fourth.
A fifth person wrote: ‘She was “so excited” to let a mother who strangled her three kids walk. That excitement tells you everything about how some people view child murder when the killer is a woman.’
The jurors also said they found Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, entertaining.
‘Just his whole demeanor was funny,’ Carlson said, noting there was one instance he made her laugh out loud.
‘He was entertaining, which was good because we needed some of that,’ she added, and the other jurors agreed.
Commentators slammed the jurors for saying they needed entertainment during the serious murder trial.
Carlson and two other female jurors opened up about their frustrations with one juror who refused to acquit
‘It’s not supposed to be entertaining; it’s a murder trial. Are you kidding me?’ one person wrote on X.
A second person added: ‘If the jury is giggling about the defense while three kids are dead, the system already lost the plot.’
‘I’m so happy the jurors were being entertained. God forbid they were there for anything serious, like who murdered three innocent children?’ wrote a third.
Clancy admitted to strangling her children, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis.
During five weeks of grueling testimony, prosecutors argued the killings were intentional and well planned, not the work of someone who had lost control.
The 12-person jury, made up of nine women and three men, spent more than 37 hours deliberating if she was guilty of murder, manslaughter, or not guilty. They were not sequestered during deliberations.
On three occasions, jurors sent the judge notes saying they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision.
On Thursday, the jury foreperson sent a note claiming one juror refused to follow the law on reasonable doubt.
Clancy was on trial for killing her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, at her Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington filed a Hail Mary motion to remove the holdout, but it failed, and Judge Sullivan declared a mistrial at Plymouth Superior Court on Friday afternoon.
As a result, Clancy faces a potential retrial and returned to Tewksbury State Hospital, where she has been held since 2023.
The judge has temporarily sealed the jurors’ names, and the holdout juror has not yet come forward with a public account of what happened inside the jury room.
Carlson also sent the judge a note complaining that a single juror wouldn´t follow the court´s instructions about reasonable doubt.
Juror Paula Devlin described that holdout juror as ‘arrogant.’
‘He really did not take anything that anybody said,’ she told the local news station.
After one juror refused to side with the others late Thursday and early Friday, defense attorney Kevin Reddington sought an emergency order to force jurors into one final round of deliberations.
But the motion failed, and Judge Sullivan declared a mistrial at Plymouth Superior Court on Friday afternoon. As a result, Clancy could face a retrial in the case.