Kevin Reddington, defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy, reacts after the judge declared a mistrial at the conclusion of Clancy's murder trial at the Plymouth County Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on September 4, 2026.
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The judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman charged with murdering her three young children in 2023. This came after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the request of Clancy's defense attorney for an emergency appeal Friday.
After deliberating for six days, the jury told the judge they could not reach a verdict because one juror did not agree with the 11 others.
The judge said the jury's note read, as WBUR reported, "It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision, and we will not be able to."
Clancy, 36, was charged with strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, in the family's home in Duxbury, Mass. Her defense argued she should not be held criminally liable because she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time, an approach often called the insanity defense. The prosecution argued Clancy was well enough to plan and act with intention.
After declaring the mistrial, Judge William Sullivan thanked the jury for how hard they worked on the case. "Each one of you knew how long the case was going to go. You knew how difficult the case was going to be to listen to, facts wise. But still, you braced for that duty."
The district attorney will now decide whether to re-try the case. Clancy will remain in custody in a state hospital where she has been held for more than three years.
In a press conference after the mistrial was declared, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz declined to say whether his office would pursue a retrial. He noted it had been an "emotional trial for everybody."
"But in the end, I bring it all back to the child victims in this case, Cora, Dawson, and Callen. This was, and has always been, about getting justice for those three little babies," he said.
Speaking outside the court Friday, defense attorney Kevin Reddington praised Clancy for enduring in such a difficult situation. "It's not right what she had to go through because she grieves the loss of those three children," he told reporters. "Every time somebody had something to say about those young kids, Lindsey would smile and say, 'I'm glad.' She wants them to be remembered."
Reddington also said the jury's 11-1 split should make the prosecution rethink re-trying the case.
"If I was Tim Cruz, I would probably say I don't think I want to do a retrial because he's going to lose," Reddington said.
Defendant Lindsay Clancy looks at the jury after Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial in Clancy's murder trial on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, in Plymouth, Mass.
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The Supreme Judicial Court heard an emergency appeal from Reddington in the case early Friday afternoon. The appeal asked that the court either excuse the juror who was allegedly refusing to follow instructions or inquire further to determine whether the juror could in fact follow the judge's instructions to correctly apply the law.
Clancy's lawyers wrote in the appeal that the holdout juror's "reasoning reflects a bias against those who suffer from debilitating mental illness."
