Image source, ReutersJurors in the trial of Lindsay Clancy are deadlocked after three days of deliberations, but a judge has asked them to keep trying.
Clancy, a resident of Massachusetts, is facing murder charges for killing her three children at their family home in 2023.
Her lawyer does not dispute that the 36-year-old former nurse killed her children, but argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and therefore could not distinguish right from wrong.
The Massachusetts mother is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, as the prosecution argues she made a calculated, intentional decision to kill them.
The jury, comprised of nine women and three men, began its deliberations last week after hearing weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses.
On Tuesday, as Judge William Sullivan read out the jury’s note, audible gasps of shock could be heard in the room. Clancy appeared stoic, sitting in a wheelchair next to her attorney.
It is not uncommon for jurors in high-profile trials to struggle to reach a decision, and judges have protocols for such situations.
A deadlock among the jury such as this one happens in “complex and emotionally charged trials”, Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor and expert in mental health law, told the BBC.
“If the deadlock persists, the judge might issue an additional ‘dynamite’ instruction [known as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge in Massachusetts] to encourage the group to consider alternative perspectives and strive for an agreement while upholding their genuine convictions,” Cucolo said.
But it is “typically a last-ditch effort” from a judge, she said.
The judge can declare a mistrial if the jury is not able to agree on a verdict.
Image source, Plymouth Clerks OfficeClancy is accused of strangling her kids – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, who was eight months – with fitness bands in their Massachusetts home before jumping out of a second-floor window in January 2023. She was left paralysed from that incident.
If found guilty of first-degree murder, the intentional and premeditated killing of another person, Clancy will face a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.
She could also be found guilty of a lesser charge, including second-degree murder – committed with malice or extreme recklessness, but without prior planning – or manslaughter – unintentionally killing “by wanton and reckless conduct”. In either of those instances, she would face time behind bars.
If she is found not not guilty by reason of insanity, she will not be set free – she would instead be sent to a psychiatric hospital where her status would be periodically reviewed. She could stay in hospital for the rest of her life.
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