A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial on Friday after the jury weighing the fate of Lindsay Clancy failed for the third time to reach a verdict in the case of the mother accused of the strangling deaths of her three young children in 2023.Judge William Sullivan made the announcement after the jury sent the court a note saying they were still deadlocked.“I’m going to declare a mistrial at this point,” Sullivan told the court Friday morning.Both the prosecution and defense had the opportunity to opine on the decision after the third deadlock.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington fought hard against a mistrial, even asking for one final emergency appeal to the decision, but Sullivan seemed against bringing the jury back on Saturday to continue deliberating should Reddington win the appeal.Sullivan told Reddington he had one hour to file an emergency stay before calling the jury back to dismiss them.Clancy had pleaded not guilty to three first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.But the jury remained deadlocked after a nearly six-week trial and seven days of deliberation.The jury was tasked with determining whether Clancy was criminally responsible in her children’s deaths, or whether she was not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility because of mental illness.Sullivan got the first deadlock note on Tuesday, the fourth day of deliberations, and dismissed the jury after asking them to continue to work toward a verdict.
On Wednesday, the jury issued a second note saying it is “still unable to come to a unanimous decision.”Sullivan, at that point, read the jury what’s known as Tuey-Rodriguez instructions, which essentially asks them to give deliberations one last chance and tells jurors that it’s “desirable” they reach a verdict.Under Massachusetts law, a judge can only ask a jury to keep deliberating twice, unless the jury consents to further deliberations.If the jury still cannot reach a una...