The jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial spent a fifth day deliberating Wednesday, reported for a second time that it was deadlocked, received a rare instruction from the judge urging jurors to keep working toward a verdict and ultimately went home without reaching a unanimous decision.The latest developments brought the closely watched Massachusetts murder trial a step closer to the possibility of a mistrial, though jurors are scheduled to return Thursday to continue deliberating.The panel of nine women and three men resumed deliberations Wednesday after telling Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan a day earlier that it could not unanimously agree on a verdict.When jurors again reported they remained deadlocked Wednesday, Sullivan delivered a Tuey-Rodriguez charge, a formal instruction encouraging them to continue deliberating while reminding them not to abandon honestly held beliefs simply to reach a unanimous verdict.Jurors continued deliberating for several more hours after receiving the instruction before Sullivan dismissed them for the day without a verdict.LINDSAY CLANCY’S FUTURE COULD REST WITH ‘PROSECUTION DOCTORS’ AS CASE ECHOES INFAMOUS MAINE KILLINGS: EXPERTLindsay Clancy sits at the defense table during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, August 5, 2026.
(David L.Ryan/Pool)Named for two Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions, the Tuey-Rodriguez charge encourages jurors to carefully consider one another's views while preserving sincerely held convictions.
It is generally considered the final procedural step before a judge may declare a mistrial if jurors remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict."The reasoning is that it often works," retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler previously told Fox News Digital."It encourages the jurors to rethink their own feelings in light of what other jurors feel, reminds them that no one's ever going to be in a better position to deci...