By MICHAEL CASEY and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial declared a mistrial Friday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in a case that sharply divided many Americans over whether the Massachusetts woman should be criminally responsible for killing her three young children.
The trial generated intense interest for more than a month, drawing attention to issues around maternal mental health after childbirth.
Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, never disputed that she killed the children. But her attorney said she had a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids, the youngest just 8 months old, then tried to take her own life in 2023. Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing.
Friday’s mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved. In the end, the decision seemed to surprise no one in the courtroom. Neither Clancy nor her family showed any emotion as the judge announced the trial was ending without a resolution.
Her parents and her sister were escorted by state police from the back of the courthouse, saying nothing to reporters. Her ex-husband Patrick Clancy, the trial’s first witness, has said in past interviews that he forgives her and believes her actions were the result of mental illness.
___
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.
___
Lindsay Clancy could face another trial
The prosecutor who originally decided to charge Clancy said there would not be an immediate decision about a second trial. He said public opinion would not influence any decision.
“This was and has always been about getting justice for those three little babies,” said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz. “This case is not about the healthcare system, or about how women are treated in it, or what diagnoses there are.”
He pointed out that the two trial prosecutors were “both mothers themselves.”
The deliberations took a dramatic turn when the judge said he was going to declare a mistrial Friday before suddenly changing course and letting her defense attorney appeal that decision to the top court in Massachusetts. But the court declined to stop the judge from declaring a mistrial.
Prosecutors said Clancy acted deliberately when she strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy with exercise bands. They said she contrived to get her husband out of the house on Jan. 24, 2023, by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.
Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said she should not be held criminally responsible because of her postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.
Trump weighs in on Lindsay Clancy case
Three times this week, jurors said they were unable to reach a unanimous decision. The jury’s foreperson told the judge Thursday that a single juror wouldn’t follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt.
Outside the courthouse Friday, Reddington blasted the juror he believes stood in the way of an acquittal by other jurors.
“They (the jury) know they were robbed by one man, for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful,” he said.
“You could see how defeated they were sitting there,” he said. “I got a funny feeling they would have gone on for another week if they had to. So I hope that guy can sleep well at night.”
Millions across the U.S. watched the livestreamed trial. Even President Donald Trump said he was following the coverage.
“It’s a terrible situation. Look, she did a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said Friday. “Can’t be worse. But you’ll find out what the price to pay is. There’ll be a price — a mental institution or jail or something.”
The judge acknowledged early during deliberations that the trial had been emotionally and physically exhausting for everyone. Much of the testimony was excruciating to hear, from the heartbreaking 911 call made by the children’s father who found their bodies, to the descriptions of how they died.
Clancy was brought to tears several times. At one point, the judge called a short break as Clancy’s loud sobs filled the courtroom while the children’s autopsy photos were shown.
Lindsay Clancy’s mental health was the focus of the trial
Over 21 days of testimony, jurors heard how Clancy’s mental health collapsed after Callan’s birth.
Deeply anxious about a planned return to work, unable to sleep and experiencing what she described as a disturbing brain fog, Clancy sought care from experts in postpregnancy mood disorders, who prescribed multiple psychiatric medications.
Clancy’s family members testified that she expressed concern about her mental health decline. Her former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, described her as a “very nurturing, very loving mother” who was “begging for help.”
In early January, she checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital for more intensive treatment, but her stay was short. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged, leaving their bodies in the basement of the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts. Clancy jumped from a second-story window immediately after and remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Clancy jurors heard differing views from experts
Prosecutors conceded that Clancy had severe mental illness, but insisted she was able to understand and control her actions. They emphasized that although she claimed to have heard a male voice commanding her to kill the children, she never disclosed hearing voices to her mental health providers before the killings.
In its latter stages, the trial became a battle of medical experts.
Kirk Heilbrun, a forensic psychologist hired by prosecutors, testified he didn’t believe her story about hearing voices or that she had acute psychosis. He said she took their lives so they wouldn’t “suffer” after she killed herself.
Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who testified for the defense, said Clancy was “clearly psychotic” and not in control of her actions. “It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings,” he said.
___
Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Ed White in Detroit contributed.