By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial resumed deliberations Wednesday, a day after telling the judge they couldn’t agree on whether the Massachusetts mother was criminally responsible for killing her three children.
After court resumed Wednesday morning, Judge William Sullivan called the lawyers to the bench. Each of the 12 jurors and six alternates were brought in one at a time, sworn in and questioned briefly before being sent out to deliberate.
The jury had told the judge on Tuesday, the fourth day of deliberations, that it could not reach a unanimous verdict, which is necessary for either a conviction or an acquittal. Sullivan instructed them to keep trying. They deliberated for the rest of the day before asking to go home early at 3:30 p.m.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children, but she says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue that she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
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Jurors heard testimony from relatives and doctors about how her mental health declined in the months before the killings and how her treatment included several medications and a short stay in a psychiatric hospital. Medical experts hired by the prosecution and the defense reached sharply different conclusions about her psychiatric state when she killed the children.
If jurors ultimately can’t agree on a verdict, the judge could declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to put Clancy on trial again, drop the charges or try to negotiate a plea deal with her lawyer.
After court ended Tuesday, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, said he saw it as a good sign that the jury kept working.
“The fact that they have not said that they’re done is very, very heartening,” he said. “Obviously, they’re working very hard.”
If the jury decides Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions, it could convict her of either murder or manslaughter. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines that she poses a danger to the public.