Livestream: Lindsay Clancy trial jury heads back into deliberations after twice reporting deadlock

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This story may contain content readers find disturbing. For help with postpartum mood disorders, text or call 1-833-TLC-MAMA for the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 988 or go to https://988lifeline.org/ to chat online.

Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial will enter a sixth day of deliberations Thursday after reporting twice now that they have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict. 

Judge William Sullivan made the last-ditch effort of reading jurors the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, or so-called “dynamite charge,” Wednesday after receiving their latest note.

The Tuey-Rodriguez charge essentially tells jurors it is their duty to reach a verdict if they can do so conscientiously, and that there is no reason to believe a retrial would yield clearer evidence or a better-suited jury. Under state law, if jurors “return a second time without having agreed on a verdict, they shall not be sent out again without their own consent, unless they ask from the court some further explanation of the law.”

If the jury remains deadlocked and Sullivan declares a mistrial, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office could decide to retry Clancy’s case.

Asked if he would view a hung jury as a win for Clancy, defense attorney Kevin Reddington told reporters Wednesday, “I don’t think this case is a victory, period. It’s a tragedy.” 

He also said he is proud of the jury, which has been deliberating for about 30 hours over five days. 

“They’re working very, very hard,” Reddington said. “And whatever happens with the case there, nobody can say that they haven’t given it their all.”

Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. While she doesn’t deny strangling all three children at home in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023, Clancy has pleaded not guilty through what is commonly known as an insanity defense. 

Reddington has argued she should not be held criminally responsible for the killings because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and heard a voice in her head ordering her to kill the children and herself. Prosecutors disputed Clancy’s claims of auditory hallucinations and maintained she was severely depressed but able to tell right from wrong at the time of the killings.

Clancy remains paralyzed since attempting suicide immediately after strangling her children. She has been committed to the state-run Tewksbury Hospital since 2023. 

In addition to a potential hung jury and mistrial, there are several other outcomes on the table as jurors head into another day of deliebrations. Though Clancy is charged with first-degree murder, jurors could also consider the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder or manslaughter instead. 

If her insanity defense prevails and Clancy is found not guilty due to lack of criminal responsibility, she wouldn’t necessarily go free. As Sullivan told jurors last week, prosecutors in those scenarios can — and often do — petition the court to have the individual committed to a mental health facility. A judge may do so if they feel the person is still mentally ill and poses a risk to themselves or others, but they can also revisit that decision during periodic reviews.

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between. She has been covering the Lindsay Clancy murder case since January 2023.