Lindsay Clancy jury struggling to reach a verdict heres why the judge may be forced to declare mistrial

PLYMOUTH, Mass.– The jury deciding Lindsay Clancy’s fate could be heading toward a hopeless deadlock, and the judge may be forced to declare a mistrial if he gets a third impasse note, experts predict.The 12 jurors, made up of nine women and three men, have been deliberating for 31 hours spread over six days and have sent out two notes saying they can’t reach a unanimous verdict.Plymouth Judge William Sullivan Wednesday read a last-resort “Tuey-Rodriguez” charge, formally urging the panelists to keep at it – but experts say Sullivan will likely have to declare mistrial if they send out a third impasse note.“If they come back after Tuey is read and say we are hopelessly deadlocked, that usually is it and should be it according to the case law,” explained veteran Boston criminal defense attorney Brad Bailey.Massachusetts attorneys were abuzz after Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, told reporters Wednesday that Sullivan could read Tuey a second time.“I researched it and talked to people,” said another Boston lawyer Peter Elikann.

“My reading is you can’t [read Tuey again] but the law is kind of vague.”However, Bailey explained if the jury asked the judge to read the Tuey instruction again, then he could.Or if they sent out a third note saying they were struggling to reach an agreement but wanted to keep deliberating, the judge wouldn’t have to declare mistrial, Bailey said.But if the panel were to notify the court for a third time that they were hopelessly deadlocked, Sullivan wouldn’t have any other option but to call a mistrial, the lawyers explained.“I think if they come back a third time, in all likelihood the judge would not continue to push, pressure, and prod them,” Elikann said.“I would say they really spent so much time since they said they were deadlocked and at some point it becomes a pointless exercise and I would suspect it’s going to be relatively soon at this point,” he added.The jury is deciding whether to fin...