Lindsay Clancy Jury Enters Fifth Day Deadlocked on Verdict

Deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial were expected to continue Wednesday, following a day in which jurors informed the judge they remained divided over whether the Massachusetts mother should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children.

The panel, then in its fourth day of weighing the case, sent a note Tuesday morning to Judge William Sullivan saying it had not been able to reach the unanimous agreement required for either a guilty verdict or an acquittal. Sullivan instructed the jurors to continue deliberating, a standard step in criminal trials when a jury signals it is struggling to come to a decision.

Jurors returned to the deliberation room and continued their discussions behind closed doors for the remainder of the day. Around 3:30 p.m., they asked to be dismissed for the evening and to pick up their deliberations again the next morning.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, has not disputed that she strangled her children. Her defense has argued that postpartum psychosis drove her actions, while prosecutors maintain she understood what she was doing at the time. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

Throughout the trial, jurors heard from family members and medical professionals about Clancy’s deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the killings, including her use of multiple medications and a brief stay at a psychiatric facility. Psychiatric experts for the prosecution and defense offered sharply conflicting opinions about her mental state when her children died.

If jurors ultimately can’t agree on a verdict, the judge could declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to put Clancy on trial again, drop the charges or try to negotiate a plea deal with her lawyer.

After court ended Tuesday, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, said he saw it as a good sign that the jury kept working.

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“The fact that they have not said that they’re done is very, very heartening,” he said. “Obviously, they’re working very hard.”

If the jury decides Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions, it could convict her of either murder or manslaughter. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines that she poses a danger to the public.

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