Lindsay Clancy jury leaves court again without a verdict

The Lindsay Clancy jury leaves court without a verdict again after telling Judge William Sullivan they were deadlocked, then being ordered to keep deliberating. Jurors were dismissed Tuesday, Sept. 1, and told to return Wednesday at 9 a.m. as the Massachusetts murder trial remains unresolved.

Key Takeaways

• Jurors left Plymouth County court Tuesday with no decision after four days of deliberations.
• Earlier that day, the panel said it could not reach a unanimous verdict but was sent back to work.
• Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said the jury is "working hard" and "very, very sincere."
• Clancy faces murder charges in the January 2023 deaths of her three children in Duxbury, Mass.
• If jurors stay hopelessly deadlocked, legal analysts say a mistrial—and a possible retrial—could follow.

Why Did the Lindsay Clancy Jury Leave Without a Verdict?

According to People magazine coverage, Judge William Sullivan dismissed jurors for the day on Tuesday, Sept. 1, after they again failed to decide the case. He asked them to return Wednesday at 9 a.m. to resume.

Hours earlier, the same jury told Sullivan it was deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The judge instructed them to continue deliberating rather than ending the trial.

The closely followed proceeding has been streamed live by the Associated Press. For more cases like this, see BlasterPost’s True Crime & Unsolved Mysteries hub.

What Charges Is the Jury Weighing in Clancy’s Case?

Lindsay Clancy is charged with murdering her three children—Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan—by strangling them in their Duxbury home in January 2023. Reporting says the children were killed with exercise bands in the basement.

She does not deny killing the children or later jumping from a second-story window. She has pleaded not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility. After the suicide attempt, she was left paralyzed from the waist down, according to People.

Jurors may consider first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter. They can also find her not guilty, or not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility.

What Happens If the Jury Remains Deadlocked?

After nearly 17 hours of deliberations earlier in the process, the panel of nine women and three men still had no verdict. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told People a judge may send jurors back to keep talking.

If they later say further talk would be futile, Rahmani said, the judge would likely declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then decide whether to retry or dismiss. Rahmani said there is no double jeopardy after a mistrial with no verdict, and he expects heavy pressure to retry a case involving three dead children.

Defense lawyer Kevin Reddington has argued Clancy suffered postpartum psychosis and overmedication. Prosecutors say she was not in a psychotic state and deliberately killed the children. In closing, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said Clancy was depressed and that the kids were her "protective factor," so "she had to remove the protective factor."

Reddington, citing the Boston Globe via People, said Tuesday he believed the jury was "working hard" and "very, very sincere." Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick, who has forgiven her, also testified during the weeks-long trial.