Key facts
- Jurors in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial are deadlocked on convicting her for killing her three children.
- The jury has deliberated for six days.
- Judge William Sullivan delivered special instructions to encourage a unanimous decision.
- Clancy's defense argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
- Prosecutors argue Clancy was aware of the wrongfulness of her actions.
- Clancy admitted to strangling her children and then attempting suicide.
Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three young children, are entering their sixth day of deliberations after twice reporting a deadlock. Judge William Sullivan has delivered special instructions, sometimes referred to as a "dynamite charge," to encourage the jury to re-examine their positions and attempt to reach a unanimous decision.
Clancy, 36, faces a potential life sentence without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. Her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued that Clancy was experiencing a psychotic episode driven by postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings. Testimony from family members, including her ex-husband Patrick, detailed her struggles with mental health following the birth of her third child.
Prosecutors do not dispute that Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, had mental health issues. However, they contend that she was capable of understanding the wrongfulness of her actions and intentionally chose to kill her children because she intended to kill herself and believed they would suffer without her. Clancy has admitted to strangling her children with exercise bands and then attempting suicide by jumping from a second-story window, which left her paralyzed.
If the jury cannot reach a verdict and a mistrial is declared, prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry the case, which has involved over 80 witnesses and more than 300 exhibits. The trial took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts.