Lindsay Clancy murder trial jury deadlocked. What happens next?
USA TODAY’s Melina Khan broke down what happens if the jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial can’t come to a verdict.
A Massachusetts woman has been charged with one count of intimidation of a witness, jurors, or person furnishing information in connection with criminal proceedings, according to state police.
Dawn Light, 56, of Sutton, was arrested about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, outside Plymouth Superior Court, a state police spokesperson said. The agency did not confirm that the charge was related to the Lindsay Clancy case, but the time is when the jury was being released for the day.
Lindsay Clancy is on trial for killing her three children in January 2024. Clancy says she is not criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis. The jury has been deliberating for 23 hours and has told the judge they are deadlocked. The jury returned to the courtroom at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2.
The trial has attracted significant attention since it began on July 27. The media interest has increased, as have conspiracy theories and the number of people looking for information on the trial.
Is it illegal to take photos of jurors outside of court?
There is no specific Massachusetts law prohibiting photos outside the courthouse.
That said, there is a state law that prohibits the “intimidation of witnesses, jurors and persons furnishing information in connection with criminal proceedings.”
Sullivan indirectly addresses arrest of woman outside courthouse
The Lindsay Clancy case courtroom opened at about 9:10 a.m., when Judge William Sullivan entered and addressed the court.
Sullivan commented indirectly on the arrest of a Sutton woman on a charge of juror intimidation. He said that there are court orders in place, as well as state statutes that relate to jurors, witnesses and attorneys.
“That order is being enforced and will be enforced,” Sullivan said. “I just want to put that out there without editorial comment,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan then called the attorneys to sidebar.
Is it illegal to take photos of the jury in Massachusetts inside the courtroom?
Massachusetts state law outlines how a photographer can operate inside the courtroom. It also outlines what is prohibited and what a courtroom judge must prohibit, including:
- (i) photography or electronic recording or transmission of voir dire hearings concerning jurors or prospective jurors.
- (ii) electronic recording or transmission of bench and side-bar conferences, conferences between counsel, and conferences between counsel and client; or
- (iii) frontal or close-up photography of jurors and prospective jurors.