Judge Says He Will Declare Mistrial In Murder Trial Of Lindsay Clancy

A judge said Friday that he will consider a one-hour emergency motion from the defense before potentially declaring a mistrial in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy after the jury said it couldn’t come to a unanimous decision.

Judge William Sullivan accepted the defense’s request immediately after announcing to the court that he had no choice but to end the trial in a mistrial.

The hourlong delay allows defense attorney Kevin Reddington the chance to file an emergency appeal with Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court so jurors can keep deliberating. Sullivan otherwise said he would declare a mistrial.

“They don’t even have to come back if I lose the motion,” Reddington said of the jurors, “but if I win the motion, then obviously they would have to come back Tuesday.”

Clancy has been on trial for killing her three children in 2023. The jury said Friday morning that it was unable to decide if she should be held criminally responsible for their deaths or be found not guilty for reason of insanity. The emotional trial swept social media and inspired a nationwide discourse of postpartum health.

A mistrial has been long awaited as the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision for several days. Twice, Sullivan sent jurors back to deliberations after they said they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision — once on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, after jurors sent the judge a note saying one juror is hung up on the term reasonable doubt, he reminded them that the burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy is guilty.

Neither side disputed that Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, killed her children.

In around five weeks of testimony, the prosecution also never denied that Clancy had mental health struggles. Instead, prosecutors argued that because she was depressed, she made a plan to kill her children in an effort to end her own “misery.”

The defense, however, argued that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis and wasn’t given the help she needed from healthcare providers.

Reddington also cast doubt on the thoroughness of the police’s investigation into the killings, at one point stating that it wasn’t even a “lousy investigation” because there was “no investigation.”

Police didn’t analyze the window screen Clancy jumped from when she attempted suicide after the killings, Reddington said, and didn’t enter a bag full of Clancy’s medication as evidence.

The trial was full of heart-wrenching moments. Clancy broke down in uncontrollable sobs as medical examiner Barbara Olson testified about the injuries Clancy’s children suffered as a result of her efforts to strangle them. The sobs became so loud and distracting that the judge ordered the court to recess. Afterward, Clancy kept her head down on the table.

Officer Stephen Hall fought back tears during his testimony as he recalled finding the dead children in the basement.

Emotions spilled over to social media. With the trial being televised, viewers quickly became obsessed with the court proceedings and started broadcasting their own theories online. Mothers came forward to share their experiences with postpartum psychosis and depression, and others shared conspiracy theories about the case, including the idea that Clancy’s then-husband was the one who had killed their children.

Lindsay Clancy didn’t testify, but her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy — who has since remarried — did.

He spoke about finding his wife on the ground outside their home after she attempted suicide. After she was transported to the hospital and stabilized, he said, she told him that she heard a man’s voice telling her to kill their children.

A few days after the killings, a GoFundMe page for Patrick Clancy stated that he’d forgiven his then-wife.

“I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have,” he wrote at the time. “The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone — me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients. The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace.”