The judge in Lindsay Clancy’s murder case declared a mistrial Friday after deadlocked jurors failed to reach a verdict despite seven days of deliberations. Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility due to postpartum psychosis after strangling her three young children. One holdout juror is believed to be the reason for the mistrial.
When a jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict required for a conviction or acquittal, the judge declares a mistrial, forcing prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case, offer a plea deal, or drop the charges. The Plymouth County District Attorney said immediately after the mistrial that he’ll decide at a later date whether to retry Clancy, stating, “I’ll be meeting with our team and we will address this case further at the appropriate time in the context of an official court proceeding. So you will not get an answer on that question today.” If prosecutors decide to try the case again, the jury selection process would commence and a new trial would be scheduled with a new jury.
Prosecutors could also offer a plea deal to Clancy, said Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case. Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her children at their home south of Boston but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. After the killings, her husband found her badly injured in the yard, where she landed after jumping from a second-story window.
She was left paralyzed from the waist down. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Though less likely, the district attorney’s office could decide to not retry the case.
She’s still clearly obviously suffering. She’s been punished with her paralysis and, worse than that, the loss of her three children.’” A conviction could mean life in prison for Clancy, while an acquittal might lead to confinement in a mental health facility. Karen Read was charged in the 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.
Jurors in her 2024 trial deadlocked on the fifth day of deliberations, leading to a mistrial. Prosecutors chose to retry the case, but a different jury last year found Read not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Like Read's case, Clancy's has drawn a divided public reaction.
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