Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked but judge asks them to keep trying
Jurors in the trial of Lindsay Clancy are deadlocked after three days of deliberations, but a judge has asked them to keep trying.
Clancy, a resident of Massachusetts, is facing murder charges for killing her three children at their family home in 2023.
Her lawyer does not dispute that the 36-year-old former nurse killed the children, but argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time and was unable to distinguish right from wrong.
The Massachusetts mother is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, as the prosecution argues she made a calculated, intentional decision to kill them.
The jury, made up of nine women and three men, began deliberating last week after hearing weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses.
On Tuesday, audible gasps could be heard in the courtroom as Judge William Sullivan read out a note from the jury indicating that it was deadlocked.
Clancy, who was left paralysed after jumping from a second-floor window shortly after the killings, appeared stoic as she sat in a wheelchair beside her lawyer.
Not just guilty or not - The jury's options in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial
It is not uncommon for jurors in high-profile trials to struggle to reach a decision, and judges have protocols for such situations.
A deadlock among the jury such as this one happens in "complex and emotionally charged trials", Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor and expert in mental health law, told the BBC.
"If the deadlock persists, the judge might issue an additional 'dynamite' instruction [known as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge in Massachusetts] to encourage the group to consider alternative perspectives and strive for an agreement while upholding their genuine convictions," Cucolo said.
Criminal defence lawyer Elyse Hershon told the BBC she was not surprised to hear that the jury was deadlocked, as people had strong opinions on the case.
"The facts are difficult and a lot of the evidence is graphic so they have a lot weighing on them," she said.
The judge can declare a mistrial if the jury is not able to agree on a verdict.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.bbc.co.uk — the content belongs to BBC News (Top Stories).
