PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Jurors weighing the case against Lindsay Clancy wrapped up a fourth day of deliberations Tuesday without reaching a verdict, after earlier alerting the court that they were split over whether the Massachusetts mother should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of her three young children.
Soon after returning to the courthouse, the panel sent a note to Judge William Sullivan saying that, despite hours of discussion, they had not been able to come to a unanimous decision. Sullivan instructed the jurors to continue deliberating.
The message marked the first public sign of a deadlock in a high-profile trial that has drawn national attention to postpartum mental health, maternal mental illness and the difficult legal questions surrounding criminal responsibility. The case has also sharply divided public opinion.
Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, has not disputed that she strangled her children. Her defense maintains that postpartum psychosis drove her actions, while prosecutors contend she understood what she was doing at the time. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
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