After nearly 40 hours of deliberations, the jury in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial.
Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Friday after a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declined to impose an emergency stay in a petition filed by Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington.
The jury deliberated for seven days after hearing over five weeks of testimony concerning whether or not Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she strangled her children, and whether she should be held criminally liable for the killings.
Lindsay Clancy and lawyer Kevin Reddington look at jurors as Judge William Sullivan instructs them to continue deliberations during Clancy’s murder trial, Sept. 4, 2026, in Plymouth, Mass.
Greg Derr/Pool via AP
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and infant son Callan at the family’s home in Duxbury, a Boston suburb, on Jan. 24, 2023.
The former nurse attempted suicide on the night of her children’s deaths, leaving her paralyzed and in a wheelchair, according to state prosecutors.
Following the mistrial, Clancy will return under state custody to a hospital for ongoing mental health treatment.
Quickly after declaring a mistrial, Sullivan set a date of Tuesday, Sept. 29 to determine next steps.
ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire said the prosecution could make the decision to retry her in the near future, or choose to drop the case.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague addresses the court as discussions take place to potentially declare a mistrial in the triple murder trial of Lindsay Clancy in Plymouth Superior Court, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, September 4, 2026.
Court Pool Feed
On Friday, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz declined to announce an immediate decision about retrying Clancy.
The second option, according to Buckmire and Peter Elikann, a Boston-based criminal defense attorney, could be plea negotiations.
“In many cases, the prosecution, after having a deadlocked jury, will kind of say to the defense, ‘Let’s compromise. We’ll break down the charges to something much lesser, and can we agree on that, that you’ll plead to something, a much more minor charge,'” Elikann said.
Buckmire said it is possible, however, that prosecutors would not want to lessen any of the charges moving forward.
Clancy faced three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her three children.
Watch a special edition of “20/20,” “The Trial of Lindsay Clancy,” airing Thursday, Sept. 4, at 9/8c on ABC, streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News and Hulu.
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