Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial again say they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Follow live updates. – The Boston Globe
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Jurors deliberating the fate of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury woman charged with murder in the deaths of her three children in January 2023, said Wednesday that they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the second day in a row they have told the judge they have not been able to reach a consensus.
Judge William Sullivan began reading the Tuey-Rodriguez charge, which is an admonition that they make one final attempt to reach a verdict before a mistrial is declared. Jurors have been deliberating for more than 27 hours across five days.
A Sutton woman was arrested outside Plymouth District Court Tuesday around the time jurors were leaving the courthouse for the day and was accused of trying to record a video of them. She pleaded not guilty to a charge of witness intimidation and told reporters after her arraignment Wednesday that she “just wanted to see Lindsay.”
Before jurors began deliberating Wednesday, Sullivan briefly questioned each juror under oath about whether they have seen or heard anything that would influence their ability to fairly decide Clancy’s fate, an apparent effort to make sure they were not affected by the woman’s arrest.
On Tuesday, the jury informed Sullivan that they could not come to a unanimous verdict. Sullivan instructed them to keep trying. The panel then deliberated for several more hours before requesting to go home and return Wednesday.
Clancy, 36, has admitted killing 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, then slashing her wrists and neck and jumping out a second-story window in a suicide attempt. She remains paralyzed from the waist down and appears in court each day in a wheelchair.
She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, asserting an insanity defense in a case that has drawn international attention for its focus on women’s postpartum mental health.
The central question before the jury is whether Clancy should be held criminally responsible for her actions. In Massachusetts, a defendant may be found to lack criminal responsibility if she was suffering from a “mental disease or defect” that made her unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions to a moral certainty, or unable to conform them to the law.
The judge instructed jurors last week on the applicable law and range of verdicts: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter (as well as verdicts of not guilty and not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility).
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the slayings. He alleged a series of failures on the part of Clancy’s psychiatric treatment providers that exacerbated her symptoms in the months before the killings.
As in other criminal trials, the burden of proof falls on the prosecution. In order to get a conviction, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy was not seriously mentally ill when she killed her children, or even if she was, that she understood her actions were wrong or could conform to the law.
Should jurors acquit her in Plymouth Superior Court, she would not go free but would be sent to a state psychiatric hospital where she’d come up for periodic reviews to determine whether she can live safely in the community.
Follow live updates.
What is the Tuey-Rodriguez charge? — 2:30 p.m.
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Judges can give the Tuey-Rodriguez charge to jurors who say they are deadlocked, urging them to continue deliberating and reminding them they are in the best position to assess the prosecution’s case and reach a verdict beyond a reasonable doubt.
It’s rare for a jury to come back with a verdict after receiving such a charge, but it has happened before.
Emanuel Lopes was convicted in February 2024 of murdering Sergeant Michael Chesna and Vera Adams, of Weymouth, on the morning of July 15, 2018.
The jury came back after being given the charge twice, according to his lawyer, Larry R. Tipton. That verdict came after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the first trial in 2024, resulting in a mistrial.
Judge tells jury to keep working — 2:27 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Judge William Sullivan sent the jurors back to continue their deliberations after he read the Tuey-Rodriguez charge, often called a ‘dynamite’ instruction to encourage the jury to keep trying to reach a verdict.
Judge gives jurors Tuey-Rodriguez charge — 2:23 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The jury entered the courtroom following the sidebar.
Judge William Sullivan said the jurors have indicated they remain deadlocked, so he began reading the Tuey-Rodriguez charge, which is an admonition that they make one final attempt to reach a verdict before a mistrial’s declared.
By Shelley Murphy
Judge William Sullivan took the bench and said, “counsel can I see you at sidebar?” The prosecutors and Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, huddled with the judge to discuss what we believe is a question.
The courtroom is packed, but all we can hear is white noise since the judge is speaking out of earshot. Jurors are not present.
Jury has a question — 2:11 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The jury has a question for the judge. We’re standing by to learn more.
Jurors continue deliberations after lunch — 2:02 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The lunch hour ended at 2 p.m., and the jury continued its deliberations.
Kevin Reddington delivers letters for Clancy — 1:10 p.m.
By Lea Skene and Jenna Perlman, Globe Staff
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington briefly left the courthouse early Wednesday afternoon and returned with a bag of letters for Clancy.
He was walking back inside holding a Starbucks coffee, wearing a light gray suit with a purple shirt and matching floral tie. When asked what’s in his coffee order, he responded: “Black.”
He described the jury’s continued efforts to reach a verdict amazing.
He said it’s up to the jury whether they keep deliberating through lunch.
Lunch served to jury — 1:08 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Jurors received their lunch around 1 p.m., at the roughly 27-hour mark of deliberations.
They’ll continue deliberating while they eat.
Courthouse mood feels more elevated — 12:35 p.m.
By Lea Skene, Globe Staff
As jury deliberations stretched toward lunchtime, a familiar group of trial observers gathered at the courthouse, mostly Clancy supporters.
Some wandered through the hallways and others lounged on benches outside, chatting and enjoying the nice weather after a rainy Tuesday.
The mood was more elevated as well. After jurors indicated they were deadlocked Tuesday morning, the continued deliberations into Wednesday afternoon seemed to raise the possibility they were making progress.
Jury has deliberated for more than 25 hours — 11:36 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The jury had deliberated for roughly 25 hours as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.
This is the fifth day of deliberations.
Woman accused of taking video of jurors was only trying to see Lindsay Clancy, her lawyer says — 11:12 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Dawn Light initially told State Police she was only there to see Clancy, but a check of her cellphone showed she had taken video of jurors as they left the courthouse after their fourth day of deliberations Tuesday. She then deleted the video, police said.
“This individual is not only videoing jurors that are coming in and out of the courthouse. She went back there to a restricted area. She was caught in that restricted area,” Assistant District Attorney Nicole Piacentini said.
But Light’s defense attorney, Jennifer White, said it was a “complete misunderstanding” and that Light’s only goal was to see Clancy, not interact with jurors.
White said Light is a retired registered nurse with no criminal record.
“She understands the magnitude and seriousness of this charge,” said White, who noted Light has no criminal record.
Light, who is familiar to reporters for occasionally waiting to get into the courtroom to watch the Clancy trial, was barred by Judge Shelby M. Smith from returning to the courthouse and ordered not to share any juror images she may have stored on the cloud.
Woman accused of taking video of jurors put ‘sanctity of the judicial system at risk,’ prosecutor says in court — 11:00 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
The Sutton woman who allegedly recorded a video of jurors as they left the Plymouth courthouse on Tuesday put the “sanctity of the judicial system at risk,” a prosecutor said during the woman’s arraignment.
Dawn Light was arrested by State Police while sitting in her car she had parked in a restricted area of the courthouse lot. Her location gave her a view of the door being used by jurors, whose identities are being kept secret by court order, to enter and exit the building.
Woman charged with ‘aggravated intimidation of witness’ for allegedly recording Clancy jurors
‘I just wanted to see Lindsay,’ woman charged with witness intimidation tells media — 10:31 a.m.
By Jenna Perlman, Globe Staff
During a media scrum, the woman who pleaded not guilty to a charge of witness intimidation after being arrested outside the courthouse Tuesday afternoon, denied recording the jury.
“I just wanted to see Lindsay,” said Dawn Light.
After speaking with Light, who was sitting in her car in the parking lot reserved for court employees around 4 p.m., a state trooper checked the deleted files on her phone and found a video of the jurors leaving the courthouse, according to a police report.
Woman charged with witness intimidation pleads not guilty at arraignment — 10:30 a.m.
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Dawn Light, a 56-year-old from Sutton, pleaded not guilty to aggravated intimidation of a witness on Wednesday, a day after she was arrested for allegedly recording a video of jurors leaving the courthouse.
Jury resumes its deliberations — 9:31 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Following the juror questioning, Judge William Sullivan greeted them in open court from the bench.
He asked his standard questions to ensure they avoided outside coverage and discussion about the case overnight.
He then sent them out to continue deliberating.
“I’m going to ask you to resume your deliberations at this time,” he said. “Thank you.”
Judge concludes questioning of jurors — 9:25 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
The judge has concluded the questioning of the jurors at sidebar. Jurors are now entering the courtroom.
Judge interviews jurors one by one — 9:17 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Judge William Sullivan is trying to make sure that jurors remain impartial and didn’t see or hear anything that would change that.
This is the same process Sullivan followed on the day that some 400 demonstrators, many clad in pink, gathered outside the courthouse to support Clancy. He questioned each juror individually at a sidebar.
Each juror is being sworn in, then questioned briefly by Sullivan under oath about whether they have seen or heard anything affecting their ability to fairly decide Clancy’s fate. Clancy’s lawyer and the two prosecutors are standing nearby listening to each juror’s response.
Judge warns against any interference with jurors — 9:13 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Before calling jurors in, Judge William Sullivan warned everyone in the courtroom and watching on livestream that he’s issued an order, and there are statutes, to prevent anyone from interfering with witnesses or jurors.
“Everybody should be well aware that order and statute is being enforced and will be enforced,” he said.
On Tuesday, a Sutton woman was arrested outside the courthouse around the time jurors were leaving for the day. She is slated to be arraigned this morning on witness intimidation charges.
Sullivan called a sidebar and is speaking with jurors individually.
Court is underway — 9:11 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Judge William Sullivan took the bench and greeted the parties before calling them to a sidebar.
If Clancy jurors are hung, this is what happens — 8:10 a.m.
By John R. Ellement and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
The 12 jurors, nine women and three men, are tasked with reviewing complex legal issues that lawyers sometimes struggle to understand, while also considering extensive medical and pharmaceutical data — all through the prism of the heartbreaking reality at the root of the trial: the deaths of three children at the hands of their mother.
Those factors raise the possibility that jurors will find themselves split on a wide variety of issues, with differences of opinion that may prevent them from reaching the constitutional requirement of a unanimous verdict.
In such an instance, the jury foreperson would again alert Sullivan that they are deadlocked. But Sullivan has legal authority to keep jurors deliberating even beyond that using what is called the “dynamite charge.” It is also known as the Tuey-Rodriguez charge.
Watch: Reddington calls continued deliberations ‘very heartening’ — 8:00 a.m.
By Nick Stoico, Globe Staff
Lindsay Clancy verdict: Reddington calls continued deliberations ‘very heartening’
“The fact that they have not said that they’re done is very, very heartening,” Kevin Reddington told reporters outside the courthouse. “They’re obviously working very hard.”
“They kept at it,” Reddington said. “I think they’re showing that they’re more than willing to keep working at it.”
Asked whether the impasse was a good sign for the defense, Reddington cautioned against reading too much into it.
“I don’t know that it’s a good sign or a bad sign or any sign,” he said. “It’s that they’re working hard to try to come to a decision.”
As Clancy jury deliberates, hushed apprehension settles over courthouse — 7:45 a.m.
By Lea Skene and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
As the world awaits a verdict in Clancy’s murder trial, a cloak of hushed apprehension has settled over the courthouse, a nondescript brick building about 2 miles south of Plymouth’s waterfront downtown. The picturesque coastal community more often attracts tourists and history buffs, drawn to its expansive beaches and national historic sites.
Instead, in recent days, many have come to bear witness to the prosecution of Clancy, the Duxbury mother charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children. The case has already captivated a massive audience and sparked public outrage over gaps in psychiatric care and women’s postpartum mental health.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe. Jenna Reyes can be reached at jenna.reyes@globe.com. Follow her @jennaelaney and Instagram @jennaelaney. Lea Skene can be reached at lea.skene@globe.com. Follow her on X @lea_skene.