Lindsay Clancy looks on as jurors (out of frame) enter the courtroom during Clancy's murder trial at the Plymouth County Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on September 4, 2026. Photo / AFP
The high-profile murder case of Lindsay Clancy was plunged into chaos Friday after the judge said he was going to declare a mistrial, and Clancy’s defence attorney immediately sought to block that from happening.
Hours later, after the defence’s appeal to a higher state court was denied, Judge William Sullivan
said the jury was deadlocked and declared a mistrial.
The jury was in its seventh day of deliberations, which have stretched on for nearly 40 hours. Clancy has admitted to killing her three children, and the jury was tasked with deciding whether to accept her insanity plea. Clancy’s case has captured the public’s attention for the nature of the crimes and become a cultural touchpoint, putting postpartum mental health issues in the spotlight.
At issue in the debate over the mistrial were the actions of a lone juror who Clancy’s defence argued was not following orders from the judge in regard to reasonable doubt.
Attorneys for Clancy submitted an emergency petition to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, asking it to order Sullivan to further scrutinize the juror or prevent them from continuing to deliberate until the judge can determine that the person is able to follow the court’s instructions.
They said the higher court’s involvement was needed to prevent “an avoidable mistrial of a case that is so time and labour intensive and that has captured so much public attention.”
Earlier Friday, local time, Sullivan declined to remove or further question the juror that the defence said was holding up a not-guilty verdict.
After jurors were unable to come to an agreement about whether to accept her insanity plea to murder charges, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington asked for the jurors to be sent back to deliberations.
But Sullivan objected, moving to bring the case to a conclusion.
“Over the defendant’s objection, I’m going to declare a mistrial at this point,” Sullivan said.
Just before Sullivan brought in the jury, Reddington made a dramatic appeal for the court to halt proceedings.
Reddington was then given an hour to petition a higher court. He cited a Massachusetts law that gives the state’s Supreme Judicial Court “general superintendence,” and the ability to prevent and address issues in lower courts when there is no other option available.
“What I’m asking for is time to file a single justice appeal for this travesty,” Reddington said. “That’s what I’m asking for.”
Reddington had attempted for a second day to argue that the juror is in violation of the law.
