Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked but judge asks them to keep trying

What the report says

Jurors in the Massachusetts trial of Lindsay Clancy have told the court they are deadlocked after three days of deliberations, but the judge has asked them to continue trying. BBC World News reported that the case concerns the deaths of Clancy’s three children at the family home in 2023, and that she faces three counts of first-degree murder.

Clancy’s defense has not disputed that the former nurse killed the children, but says she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and could not tell right from wrong at the time. Prosecutors, by contrast, argue the killings were deliberate and planned. The jury, made up of nine women and three men, began deliberating after weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses.

The BBC said the deadlock became public in court when Judge William Sullivan read a note from jurors, prompting audible gasps. Clancy, who was left paralyzed after jumping from a second-floor window shortly after the killings, appeared in a wheelchair beside her lawyer. The judge could eventually declare a mistrial if jurors remain unable to agree.

The case is significant because it centers on a rare and closely watched defense involving postpartum psychosis, which may affect whether Clancy is convicted of first-degree murder, a lesser homicide charge, or found not guilty by reason of insanity. BBC World News noted that in Massachusetts, an insanity finding would not mean release but possible psychiatric commitment.