A judge has declared a mistrial in the high-profile murder case of a Duxbury mother charged with strangling her three children in 2023.
After nearly a week of deliberations and a last-ditch appeal from the defense to the Supreme Judicial Court, the jury of nine women and three men failed to reach a verdict as to whether Lindsay Clancy, 36, should be held criminally responsible for her children’s deaths, ending a trial that sparked international discussion about postpartum mental healthcare.
Jurors repeatedly reported to Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan that they could not agree on a verdict. On Wednesday, the judge had issued what are called “Tuey-Rodriguez” instructions, urging the jury to keep trying for a verdict. By Thursday, the jury foreperson sent two notes to the judge, including one that indicated a lone juror was preventing a unanimous decision.
After brief deliberations Friday morning, the judge reported the jurors were hopelessly deadlocked.
The judge said the jury’s note read, “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 is expected to be held in a state psychiatric hospital, where she has been for more than three years. It will be up to the Plymouth County district attorney’s office to determine if prosecutors will seek to retry her. The office could pursue lesser charges in a new trial.
The five-week trial at the Plymouth courthouse did not center on whether Clancy killed her children, but whether her mental state was so compromised she could not be held criminally responsible for the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.
Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, made a final effort before Judge Sullivan declared a mistrial to appeal for an emergency stay from the Supreme Judicial Court. Sullivan gave him one hour to file the petition. The state’s high court ultimately denied the request Friday afternoon.
Throughout the trial, the defense argued that Clancy had postpartum psychosis and did not get proper mental health treatment despite her best efforts, was overmedicated and ultimately, suffered a psychotic break.
Under Massachusetts law, what’s known as the “insanity defense” demands that the prosecution prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant understood their actions were wrong, or had the capacity to follow the law.
Jurors had to sift through hundreds of pieces of evidence, and testimony from more than 70 witnesses addressing legal standards and the complexities of mental health.
In closing arguments, Reddington said prosecutors didn’t prove that “this woman was acting in her right mind when these children were killed.”
Prosecutors acknowledged Clancy struggled with her mental health, but argued she planned the killings because she wanted to end her life.
Clancy, who is paralyzed from the waist down from a suicide attempt immediately after the killings, attended the court proceedings in a wheelchair, accompanied by two nurses.
She did not testify but became emotional several times during the trial, especially as details of the killings were laid out. As a state medical examiner detailed the injuries and deaths of the children, Clancy sobbed, and the judge temporarily halted the proceedings.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague argued the children were “protective factors” against Clancy taking her own life, so she had to kill them to “end her misery.”
“ She knew what she did was wrong,” Sprague told the jury during closing arguments. “She could conform her behavior to the law and chose not to. And she didn’t expect to have any consequences, because she expected to die with her children.”
Prosecutors also said Clancy had resources to get help and didn’t comply with her clinicians’ advice.
The jury heard from Clancy’s family, friends, healthcare providers, police and a hospital chaplain. Medical experts testified about their evaluations of Clancy and about postpartum psychosis, a potentially dangerous psychiatric emergency that can be treated if diagnosed.
Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, testified that she was a devoted mother but had been struggling with her mental health for months after the birth of their third child.
He described deepening concerns about his children’s safety and said Lindsay Clancy had expressed thoughts about harming the kids and herself. But he also testified that his then-wife had appeared to be improving just before the killings.
Patrick Clancy also described the night of the crimes. He said Lindsay Clancy asked him to go to the pharmacy and pick up take-out food for dinner, and he arrived back home to find his wife on the ground outside and his children strangled in the basement.
Jurors heard the recording of his 911 call that evening. It was so harrowing the judge barred its release to the public.
Prosecutors called medical experts to the witness stand who testified they had evaluated Clancy and determined she was depressed but was not experiencing postpartum psychosis. They based their determinations, in part, on a limited definition of the postpartum period, holding that it lasts only four weeks after birth.
Reddington, the defense attorney, pointed out that some medical experts consider the postpartum period to extend at least a year after birth, and he questioned the witnesses’ credibility.
“You have these men coming in here that don’t even know psychosis from schizophrenia,” Reddington said.
Medical experts for the defense testified that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis. They said she reported hearing a male voice “ordering her to kill the children and kill herself.”
“It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not,” said forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick.
But some witnesses cast doubt on the report of an auditory hallucination, testifying that it would be unusual for a person to hear a voice on only one occasion. Sprague, the prosecutor, urged jurors to convict Clancy of first-degree murder, saying the children suffered a fate of “extreme cruelty and atrocity,” which is among the legal requirements for a first-degree conviction. She asked jurors to imagine the children’s “pain and confusion.”
”Just think of that,” Sprague said. “Their mom is the one that’s hurting them. Their mom is the one that’s killing them. That’s extreme atrocity and cruelty.”
The trial drew hundreds of people to the Plymouth courthouse. Many of the spectators were women who said the case highlighted holes in mental healthcare, especially for new mothers. Hundreds rallied in support of Clancy at the courthouse during the final weeks of testimony, saying the medical system failed her, and they hoped the international attention the case has drawn will bring improvements.
“It’s been so in the dark,” said Louise Saunders, of Reading, Massachusetts. “As women we’re told to smile, and it’s natural to be a mom. So if you aren’t really into it, and you can’t do it well with a smile, then you’re not doing it right.”
Although Sprague, in her closing arguments, told jurors that a broken mental healthcare system is “not on trial here” and is “a distraction to get you passionate and angry,” many of the supporters gathered at the courthouse said Clancy’s case resonated with them precisely because of they understood the difficulties finding care. Many said the mental healthcare system failed Clancy, who repeatedly sought help and was discharged from a psychiatric hospital just weeks before the killings.
“ I think that she should not be in trial right now,” said Renee Kimball, of Maine, who organized the large demonstration during the trial. “I think that the systems of mental healthcare should be.”
The attention on the Clancy trial appears to have already increased attention on new mothers’ mental health. The support group Postpartum Support International, said Massachusetts calls to its helpline were up by about 50% since Clancy’s trial began.
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Resources: You can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 and the Samaritans Statewide Hotline (call or text) at 1-877-870-HOPE (4673). Call2Talk can be accessed by calling Massachusetts 211 or 508-532-2255 (or text c2t to 741741). The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline can be reached at 1-833-TLC-MAMA.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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