Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked but judge asks them to keep trying

Jurors in the trial of Lindsay Clancy are deadlocked after three days of deliberations, but a judge has asked them to keep trying.

Clancy, a resident of Massachusetts, is facing murder charges for killing her three children at their family home in 2023.

Her lawyer does not dispute that the 36-year-old former nurse killed her children, but argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and therefore could not distinguish right from wrong.

The Massachusetts mother is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, as the prosecution argues she made a calculated, intentional decision to kill them.

The jury, comprised of nine women and three men, began its deliberations last week after hearing weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses.

On Tuesday, as Judge William Sullivan read out the jury’s note, audible gasps of shock could be heard in the room. Clancy appeared stoic, sitting in a wheelchair next to her attorney.

It is not uncommon for jurors in high-profile trials to struggle to reach a decision, and judges have protocols for such situations.

A deadlock among the jury such as this one happens in “complex and emotionally charged trials”, Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor and expert in mental health law, told the BBC.

“If the deadlock persists, the judge might issue an additional ‘dynamite’ instruction [known as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge in Massachusetts] to encourage the group to consider alternative perspectives and strive for an agreement while upholding their genuine convictions,” Cucolo said.

But it is “typically a last-ditch effort” from a judge, she said.

If found guilty, Clancy will face a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.