Clancy Jury Deadlocked Again, Told to Keep Deliberating
Jurors in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial resume deliberations after telling the judge they were deadlocked. She pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy are back in deliberations for a fifth day, after informing the judge on Tuesday that they could not reach a unanimous decision. The note, sent on the fourth day of talks, prompted Judge William Sullivan to instruct the panel to continue its efforts, a standard step when a jury signals difficulty in reaching a verdict.
Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, does not dispute that she strangled her three children. Her defense argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, making her not criminally responsible for her actions. Prosecutors, however, contend that she was aware of what she was doing.
Testimony has covered the decline in Clancy's mental health in the months before the killings, including her treatment with multiple medications and a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital. Expert witnesses for the prosecution and defense offered sharply conflicting assessments of her psychiatric state at the time of the deaths.
If the jury remains unable to agree, the judge could declare a mistrial, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry Clancy, drop the charges, or negotiate a plea deal. After court adjourned Tuesday, defense attorney Kevin Reddington said he was encouraged that the jury had not given up, calling it a sign they were working diligently.
Should the jury find Clancy criminally responsible, she could be convicted of murder or manslaughter. An acquittal would not necessarily mean freedom, as a judge could order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation finds she poses a public danger.