Lindsay Clancy Jury Remains Deadlocked as Judge Gives ‘Last-Chance’ Instruction Before Possible Mistrial

The jury deciding Lindsay Clancy’s fate has reached another impasse, prompting the judge to issue a final-style instruction urging the jurors to keep working toward a unanimous verdict.

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Judge William Sullivan gave the jury a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, commonly referred to as a “dynamite charge,” after jurors once again reported that they could not agree.

 

The jury had already informed Sullivan of a deadlock the previous day. After approximately four days of deliberations, the judge brought the jurors back into court and urged them to reconsider their respective positions before returning to the deliberation room.

The instruction encourages jurors to carefully evaluate their own views while giving serious consideration to the arguments and opinions of their fellow jurors. It also asks them to recognize that another jury might face the same difficulty in reaching a unanimous decision.

“In conferring together, you ought to give proper respect to each other’s opinions, and listen with an open mind to each other’s arguments,” Sullivan told them as part of the instruction.

The development puts the closely watched case increasingly close to a possible mistrial.

If the jurors remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict after being given the additional instruction, Sullivan could declare a mistrial.

A Tuey-Rodriguez instruction has been used in another high-profile Massachusetts case. During the first trial of Karen Read, jurors received the same type of instruction before ultimately failing to reach a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial.

Clancy’s trial concerns the January 2023 deaths of her three children: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.

 

Clancy, 36, has not denied killing the children. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her defense arguing that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she strangled the children at the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home.

Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, has maintained that Clancy’s mental state was severely impaired and that she was also affected by medication. He has argued that she was experiencing psychosis not only during the killings but also during her subsequent suicide attempt, when she jumped from a second-story window.

The jury is considering multiple possible outcomes. In addition to first-degree murder, jurors can consider second-degree murder and manslaughter.

A finding of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility would not mean that Clancy simply walks out of court. Instead, she could be placed in a secure psychiatric facility for an indefinite period under Massachusetts law.

Prosecutors have presented a sharply different interpretation of what happened.

The prosecution argues that Clancy deliberately killed her children and was not experiencing psychosis at the time. Prosecutors have sought to persuade jurors that although Clancy was struggling with depression and other mental health problems, she remained aware of the nature and consequences of her actions.

The jury began deliberating on Aug. 27. After several days without a verdict, jurors first informed Sullivan on Tuesday, Sept. 1, that they were deadlocked.

The judge initially directed them to continue deliberating. When they reported the same problem again Wednesday, Sullivan delivered the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction in what may be the jury’s final opportunity to resolve the case without a mistrial.

For Clancy, her family and both sides of the courtroom, the next round of deliberations could determine whether the nearly completed trial ends with a verdict — or whether the case will have to begin again.