For the second time, jurors deciding whether Lindsay Clancy should be convicted of murdering her three young children told the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict before being dismissed for the evening yesterday.
The panel is expected to resume deliberations today.
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Judge William Sullivan, presiding in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gave the 12 jurors special instructions yesterday, commonly known as a “dynamite charge,” urging them to reconsider their views and continue working toward a unanimous decision. The trial is now in its sixth week, with deliberations extending into a fifth day.
“After much deliberation, we are still unable to come to a unanimous decision,” jurors wrote in a note that Judge Sullivan read aloud in court.
“Our constitution and laws provide that in a criminal case the principal way for deciding questions of fact is the verdict of a jury,” Judge Sullivan told them.
The jury nevertheless ended the day without a verdict. Should the panel remain deadlocked and Judge Sullivan declare a mistrial, prosecutors would have to decide whether to bring the case to trial again. More than 80 witnesses have testified, and the proceedings have included over 300 exhibits.
There is no dispute that Ms Clancy, 36, strangled her three children with exercise bands in the basement of her Duxbury home, a Boston suburb, in 2023. She then tried to take her own life and is now paralysed.
Throughout the trial, her attorney, Kevin Reddington, argued that Ms Clancy should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, or lack of criminal responsibility. He portrayed her as a devoted mother who was experiencing a psychotic episode when she killed Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan on 24 January, 2023.
The televised proceedings have renewed longstanding debate over the treatment of postpartum mental health in the US and the way the criminal justice system handles cases involving mothers accused of killing their children.
Before the jury entered yesterday, Judge Sullivan warned those following the trial that state law and a court order prohibit attempts to interfere with witnesses or jurors.
His warning came after Dawn Light, of Sutton, Massachusetts, was arrested outside the courthouse on Tuesday after the jurors had been dismissed. She was accused of attempting to record a video of jury members. During her arraignment yesterday, a lawyer for Ms Light said she had only been trying to photograph Ms Clancy.
Ms Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. A verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity could instead lead to her commitment to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation.
