A Massachusetts judge has declared a mistrial in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether she was criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children.
Judge William Sullivan made the decision on Friday after the jury remained deadlocked for a seventh day of deliberations.
However, the judge gave Clancy’s defence team one hour to seek an emergency stay from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court before the mistrial could take full effect.
The jury had earlier informed the court several times that it could not agree on a verdict. The latest development came after the jury returned with another deadlock on Friday morning.
The case centres on the deaths of Clancy’s three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, who were killed at the family’s home in Duxbury in January 2023.
Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, has admitted killing the children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Her defence argued that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time and was not mentally responsible for her actions.
Prosecutors, however, argued that Clancy deliberately killed her children and understood what she was doing at the time of the deaths.
The trial featured extensive evidence about Clancy’s mental health, her treatment and the events leading up to the killings, with more than 80 witnesses called during the proceedings.
The defence had also asked the judge to remove a juror accused of refusing to properly follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt. Judge Sullivan declined to remove the juror.
With the jury unable to reach a verdict, prosecutors could now decide whether to bring the case before a new jury in a retrial.
For now, Clancy remains in a psychiatric facility as the legal battle over the deaths of her three children continues.