'I understand you gave it everything you could': judge thanks jury for their service
Members of the jury, at this point, I’m going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I’m going to declare a mistrial.
Alright, I just wanted to make a comment, and I’m kind of a history buff. And during World War Two, Winston Churchill was the prime minister of England, when England pretty much stood against Nazi Germany alone. And so Churchill oftentimes had to talk to the citizens and say, let us brace for our duties . I always liked that phrase.
And I thought of that phrase when all of you were agreeing to be on this jury, agreed to brace for that duty, and each one of you knew how long the case was going to go . You knew how difficult, the case was going to be to listen to, facts wise. But still, you braced for that duty … I watched every day. Day after day, week after week. All of you performing that duty that you braced for .
And I just kind of wanted to let you know I understood how hard everybody worked in this case. I understood that you all gave everything you could, and probably more than you thought you could.
And so, on behalf of myself, I just want to thank you so much … you should be proud for what you did. You braced for that duty. You performed that duty. And I just kind of wanted to thank you on behalf of myself, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Thank you so much.
The only thing I am going to ask one more thing is that what I’d like to do is be able to come back and thank you personally. I’m going to talk to, counsel for just a couple of minutes. So if you could stay just for a couple of minutes, not to go over the, the deliberations or anything like that, but just to thank you personally again for for just an incredible, commitment and dedication that each and every one of you showed here . So I just want to thank you so much. And with that, you’re discharged. Thank you.
Judge declares mistrial amid hung jury in Lindsay Clancy murder trial
The judge has now declared a mistrial after jurors failed for a third time to reach a verdict on whether Lindsay Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her children.
Addressing the jury, Judge William Sullivan said they should be proud of themselves and he would like to thank them personally for “an incredible commitment and dedication” to the case.
Reddington argued that the court has the authority to dismiss the holdout juror. “Unfortunately they’re not holding out based on a good-faith issue,” he said.
However, the judge denied his request. The jury is being brought back in now.
Massachusetts court clears the way for judge to declare a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case after a last-minute appeal
Judge William Sullivan informs the court that the judge from the supreme judicial court has denied the defense’s last-ditch appeal for an emergency stay.
The judge again stated his intention to declare a mistrial.
Clancy’s defense attorney Kevin Reddington is raising additional points about the holdout juror, which I’ll bring you shortly.
There was a 1:30pm hearing open to the public for viewing.
During the hearing which Lindsay Clancy and her lawyer Kevin Reddington attended, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague briefed Massachusetts supreme court justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt on the deliberation process between the jurors, including the notes sent forth by the jury.
Defense attorney Dana Goldblatt argued that the Massachusetts supreme judicial court has the discretion to order the trial court to make the inquiry of the juror.
As part of the emergency request for relief filed to the supreme judicial court, Clancy’s lawyers asked the court of several things, including:
1) Inquire into the ability of the identified juror to apply the law or
2) Prohibit the further deliberations of a juror identified by the jury foreperson as biased and refusing to follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt unless and until the court determines by individual voir dire that the juror is willing and able to follow the court’s instructions
“Intervention is necessary in this case to avoid an avoidable mistrial of a case that is so time and labor intensive and that has captured so much pbulic attention.”
Here are a few images from inside and outside the Plymouth courthouse in Massachusetts as Lindsay Clancy’s defense team filed an emergency stay with a superior court judge on Friday morning:
What is postpartum psychosis, the condition central to the Lindsay Clancy trial, and what are the symptoms?
Postpartum psychosis , a rare and severe mental illness, is central to the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Her defense team argues that she killed her three children while experiencing the condition, which can cause hallucinations , delusions and rapid mood changes .
Women who have experienced postpartum psychosis say the attention surrounding the Lindsay Clancy case could help raise awareness about the need for better support, including more research and improved medical training.
Despite its severity, postpartum psychosis is not entirely understood, with gaps in research, diagnosis and treatment. To understand why the condition can have such tragic consequences, it’s important to understand the illness itself.
“ Each case I have been part of treating has shown just how incredibly devastating postpartum psychosis can be, ” says Crystal Schiller, a clinical psychologist and director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Women’s Mood Disorders.
Women deserve better access to care, and they deserve experts who really understand what’s going on and who can provide answers on how to treat and prevent this illness.
Postpartum psychosis is a mood disorder with psychotic features , says Dr Soudabeh Givrad, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine.
Most individuals with postpartum psychosis experience severe mood symptoms . These can include hallucinations , delusions , confusion , depression , insomnia and a mixture of low and manic moods . Postpartum psychosis is associated with a high risk of suicide and infanticide.
These symptoms can start within two weeks after giving birth. It’s rarer for symptoms to emerge several weeks after birth, but it is possible, according to the UK’s National Health Service. Symptoms can also come and go, which can make it difficult to identify in the limited window a patient has with a care provider, says Givrad.
Overall, the illness is rare , affecting about one to two out of every 1,000 women after childbirth. It is considered a psychiatric emergency.
There is a spectrum of perinatal mental health conditions, or conditions that affect a person during pregnancy and after childbirth, says Bonnie Kerker, a professor of population health and child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Postpartum psychosis is at the far end of this spectrum, she says.
Yet, overall, “when it comes to perinatal mental health, there are still a lot of myths out there where women tend to think that pregnancy and the postpartum period are supposed to be the happiest time of their life ”, Kerker says. This can lead to ignoring symptoms and refusing help.
And the trial court is now on break for lunch until 2pm ET.
Though it’s been over an hour since the judge gave Lindsay Clancy ’s defense an hour to file for its emergency stay, we obviously don’t know when he actually started the clock for that hour.
But, CNN has confirmed with the clerk’s office at the state’s supreme judicial court that a filing from the defense has been submitted.
If you’re just joining us, the judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy , the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, plans to declare a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations .
Jurors in Plymouth state court spent more than 38 hours in deliberations over the charges against the 36-year-old mom, which came on the heels of a weeks-long trial that directed national attention to maternal mental health issues that can occur postpartum.
After the jury returned without a verdict for the third time, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial but was intercepted by a last-minute request from Clancy’s lead defense attorney, Kevin Reddington , who requested one hour to petition for an emergency stay to seek relief from a superior court judge.
Clancy, a former neonatal and delivery nurse, admits to strangling her three children - Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months - in the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023.
Prosecutors argued in opening statements that Clancy had “coldly and efficiently executed” her children, doing so with “no hesitation, with deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty” after she “drew her husband out of the house, their father, so that she had the opportunity and the time to carry out these murders”.
But Clancy’s defense team argued she was “suffering from psychosis” when she killed her children and allegedly attempted suicide by jumping from an upper window in her home, which left her partially paralyzed. Reddington told jurors that Clancy suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth to her third child, Callan, and been prescribed a cocktail of medications.
“ This is a young woman who, with her husband, tried very hard to get the help she needed ,” he said.
Clancy has not denied that she had killed her children but her not guilty plea was predicated on a lack of criminal responsibility because, as her defense team said, she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, which included auditory hallucinations that commanded her to harm her children, and undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Under Massachusetts law, the defendant must have “retained the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of their conduct and to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law” in order to be found guilty.
Throughout the trial, jurors heard from Clancy’s former husband Patrick Clancy , her mother and aunt, and an array of psychologists and treating physicians. The court heard that Clancy had been prescribed 13 different medications for anxiety and sleep, which the defense said may have exacerbated her symptoms of depression.
Clancy had checked herself into psychiatric clinic in the weeks before the killings. Later, on 24 January 2023, she had sent her then husband out for food and to collect pharmacy medications. In that time, police say she strangled their children with exercise bands. Her ability to orchestrate a window of time to carry out the killings, prosecutors argued, was evidence of premeditation.
Before resting his case last week, Reddington called forensic psychiatrist Dr Phillip Resnick to testify that Clancy had “severe depression” and a history of anxiety, which increased after the birth of her children to the point that she “felt she couldn’t function”.
“ At the time of the crime on Jan 24, 2023, Ms Clancy was frankly psychotic ,” Resnick said. “ She was clearly psychotic on that day. ”
After the potential declaration of Clancy’s mistrial, prosecutors have the option of trying her again.
Clancy’s criminal trial will be followed by a civil claim brought by both Lindsay and Patrick Clancy against her medical and mental healthcare providers. The former couple claim the providers committed medical malpractice by failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor her severe postpartum psychiatric condition.
We’re minutes away from getting the judge’s final decision on whether he will go ahead and declare a mistrial, as the hour he gave the defense to file an emergency appeal is almost over.
Here’s a quick recap of the trial, which has shocked, saddened and divided the country.
Closing arguments ended last Thursday in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who admitted killing her three young children – Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months – in January 2023. Her attempt to kill herself after killing the children left her with spinal injuries that paralyzed her from the waist down. Clancy pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder due to lack of criminal responsibility, also known as an insanity defense. She faced life in prison if convicted. The tragic case has sparked a national conversation about the state of postpartum mental healthcare in the United States.
The charges up for consideration were first-degree murder, which involves “deliberate premeditation” or “extreme atrocity or cruelty” and is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole, or second-degree murder, without either of those conditions, punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole. They also considered lesser manslaughter charges, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. If they had found Clancy not guilty, she could have spent the rest of her life in hospital, with the eventual possibility of release at a later time if the court determined she was not a danger to others.
Jurors began deliberating last Thursday on whether to accept her insanity defense, but, almost 40 hours on, they have now declared three times that they could not reach a unanimous decision. A jury note indicated that jurors were split 11-1 toward an acquittal but a holdout juror “has acknowledged doubt but refuses to apply it to the verdict”. The prosecution argued this indicated a disagreement among jurors over how to weigh the evidence, while the defense argued the juror had “lied” when they swore to the judge to properly follow the law. But the judge ultimately declined to question the juror further or have them removed.
After the jury declared today that, “with a heavy heart”, it still cannot “and will not be able to” reach a verdict, the judge said he intends to declare a mistrial. That has now been thrown into limbo after the defense asked for an emergency stay from Massachusetts’s highest court. The judge gave him one hour. We’ll bring you the latest as that unfolds.
At the heart of what has been called America’s saddest murder trial is Clancy’s mental health following the birth of her third child. Her defense, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, argued that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible for killing her children because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a devastating condition estimated to affect around two women per 1,000 births . He called Clancy “a darn good mother” and argued that she received “lousy” medical care when she sought help for her deteriorating mental state. She was in “the depths of despair” when she killer her children, he argued, and was compelled to kill them and herself by a persistent male voice during a spell of psychosis.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that Clancy “deliberately and meticulously” killed her children, and acted “intentionally, rationally, and swiftly”. Prosecutors acknowledged Clancy’s mental health struggles but in its closing statement argued that Clancy was a “functioning mom” who knew “right and wrong”. The prosecution pointed to the medical resources and treatment available to her, and also downplayed the severity of Clancy’s suicide attempt. She put a level of planning into the killings that indicates she was not psychotic, they argued.
If a mistrial is declared, the prosecution could decide to pursue a retrial and try again with a new jury, or they could offer a plea deal to Lindsay Clancy ’s attorney. They could also decide to drop the case.
When asked on Wednesday about the prospect of a retrial, Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington had said he was prepared to “try the case next week”.
If a new trial is declared, in the meantime, Clancy would remain in the psychiatric facility she’s been held in.
After the judge read out the note from the jury, prosecutors expressed they were in favour of a mistrial, whereas Lindsay Clancy ’s attorney Kevin Reddington had asked the judge to send jurors back to continue deliberating.
In asking the judge to hold off on formally declaring a mistrial, Lindsay Clancy ’s defense attorney Kevin Reddington said he wanted to file an appeal directly to the Massachusetts supreme judicial court regarding the apparent holdout juror.
“ I believe that this is a situation where there is a clear and present danger that this individual, for some reason ... is taking a position that’s intractable regardless of proof beyond a reasonable doubt ,” Reddington said.
Jurors tell judge with 'heavy heart' they cannot reach unanimous verdict
This is the note the judge read out from the jury, informing him for the third time that it could not reach a verdict:
It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to.
Asked for their positions by the judge, the prosecution agreed it should go to a mistrial, while the defence argued for the jury to be sent back to deliberate further.
Earlier this week, the 12-person jury – made up of nine women and three men – came back twice to say that it could not reach a verdict and was sent back to deliberate by the judge both times.
This third declaration of deadlock comes a few hours after the judge declined to question a juror who, according to a letter from the jury foreperson on Thursday, had acknowledged doubt about the case but “refuses to listen to the law you have given on reasonable doubt” .
The judge responded by reading out the court’s guidance on reasonable doubt , telling jurors on Thursday:
The charge is proved beyond a reasonable doubt if, after you’ve compared and considered all of the evidence, you have in your minds an abiding conviction, to a moral certainty, that the charge is true.
After the defense argued for the juror’s removal for failing to “listen to the law on reasonable doubt”, the judge declined, saying there was no indication that the juror was refusing to deliberate.
He reminded the jury this morning that they must follow the law “whether they like it or not” .
This dramatic turn of events, as the judge was about to declare a mistrial and call the jury back in, comes after Lindsay Clancy ’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington , asked for an emergency stay.
The judge, William Sullivan, has given him one hour to do so.
The jury was sent out over a week ago to decide whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children – eight-month old Callan, five-year-old Cora and three-year-old Dawson – in January 2023.
Over the past six weeks, the trial, which has been called “America’s saddest murder trial” , has renewed nationwide attention on postpartum mental healthcare. Clancy’s defense maintains that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a condition estimated to affect around two women per 1,000 births – and therefore should not be held criminally responsible for her actions.
Prosecutors from the Plymouth county district attorney’s office, meanwhile, argue that Clancy’s actions were planned and deliberate.
Judge says he will hold off on declaring a mistrial, giving defense an hour to file emergency appeal
The judge has said he has no choice but to declare a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked on whether Lindsay Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.
He was about to bring the jury back into the courtroom after jurors, after almost 40 hours of deliberation, said in a note on Friday that “with a heavy heart” it could not reach a unanimous decision.
However, the judge said he will hold off on formally declaring a mistrial to give the defense an hour to file an emergency appeal .
We’ll bring you all the latest updates as we get them.
Members of the jury, at this point, I’m going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I’m going to declare a mistrial.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Lucy Campbell (now) and Maya Yang (earlier). Published 4 Sept 2026, 06:33 pm.
