Tensions flare as judge declines to remove juror in Lindsay Clancy trial

What the report says

A Massachusetts judge has declined to remove a juror from Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, even as tensions rose during a sixth day of deliberations in the closely watched case, BBC World News reported. The jury in Plymouth, made up of nine women and three men, has now spent about 35 hours trying to reach a unanimous verdict after nearly six weeks of trial proceedings.

According to the BBC, the jury forewoman sent a note saying one juror would not follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt. Clancy’s defence lawyer, Kevin Reddington, asked Judge William Sullivan to dismiss that juror, but the request was rejected. The judge instead told the panel to continue deliberating and later questioned jurors individually. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague backed the judge’s approach, saying the court should not try to determine how jurors are voting.

Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children at the family home in January 2023. The BBC said she does not dispute that she strangled the children, but her defence argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and could not tell right from wrong. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole. If the jury cannot agree and a mistrial is declared, prosecutors would then decide whether to retry the case.