Politics · MistrialDeadlocked Jury Forces Mistrial in Clancy Triple-Murder CaseAired September 6, 2026 at 5:16 PM UTCWritten September 6, 2026 at 5:18 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00A single holdout juror left a triple murder jury deadlocked at 11 to 1.0:08The judge refused to remove that juror, and after four deadlock notes, he declared a0:12mistrial.0:13The question now is whether the district attorney will try Lindsey Clancy again.0:16Four notes in four days.0:18Each time the judge pushed the panel to continue, but the split never closed.0:22The defense publicly described the panel as divided 11 to 1 for acquittal, with one0:27juror blocking a verdict.0:29The court itself never confirmed that split.0:31But the defense's account is what drove the final fight over this jury.0:34Those were the words that ended the trial.0:36The jury's own admission that it could not agree.0:39The judge read them aloud before discharging the panel.0:42That deadlock came down to one juror.0:44The four-person told the judge that a single juror acknowledged doubt, but refused0:48to apply the court's instruction on reasonable doubt.0:51Defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued the juror had gone rogue and asked the0:54judge to replace him with an alternate.0:56The judge questioned the juror, then declined, saying it was not proper to remove a1:00juror on that record.1:02and that he would not side with one side or the other of the deliberations.1:05The facts of the killings were never disputed.1:07Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months.1:11All strangled with exercise resistance bands.1:14Clancy then cut her wrists and neck, and jumped from a second story window.1:18She survived with paralysis, now uses a wheelchair, and is held without bail at1:22Tewkesbury Hospital.1:23The only question was whether mental illness made her not criminally responsible.1:27Prosecutors argued she acted deliberately and knowingly, and that she sent her1:31husband out to pick up medicine and dinner specifically to leave herself alone with1:34the children.1:35The defense countered that postpartum psychosis, a severe form of depression1:39following childbirth, left her unable to understand the wrongfulness of her actions.1:43The trial itself lasted about five weeks, hearing from more than eighty witnesses.1:47The Boston Globe counted eighty four witnesses and more than three hundred exhibits.1:52Yet the central issue, her state of mind at the moment of the killings, was never1:55resolved.1:56The deliberating jury was nine women and three men, with six alternates.2:00Massachusetts requires a unanimous criminal verdict.2:03An 11-to-1 split is not a verdict, which is what left the case with no outcome.2:08The prosecution's first witness was her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy.2:12He filed for divorce in 2024.2:14He described her decline after Callan's birth, the intrusive thoughts she disclosed,2:19and what he called one of her best days right before the killings.2:22The 911 call was played.2:24He found her in the yard after the jump.2:26She told him she had tried to kill herself, then said the children were in the2:29basement.2:29He also testified she told him she heard a man's voice warning, that if she did not2:34act now, she would lose her chance.2:36He has said he forgives her and believes mental illness was responsible.2:40Judge William Sullivan gave the defense about an hour to appeal the removal decision2:43to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Associate Justice Delilah2:46Argez-Wenland, heard the emergency request by Zoom and denied it.2:50The mistrial then went forward.2:52Some numbers are solid.2:53The mistrial, the deliberation length, the witness count.2:57The 11-to-1 split is the defense's characterization, and the court never confirmed3:02it.3:07After the mistrial, the defense lawyer called it a travesty and said his client3:12deserved an acquittal.3:14The district attorney Timothy Cruz said he would decide shortly whether to retry,3:18emphasizing that the first-degree murder charges were warranted and that the case3:21was about getting justice for Cora, Dawson, and Callan.3:24He also disclosed threats against his prosecutors.3:27The decision now rests with district attorney Timothy Cruz.3:30He could retry Clancy on first-degree murder, reduce the charges, seek a plea, or3:35drop the case.3:36Analysts generally expect a retrial, given Cruz's record, but the defense's claim of3:41an 11-to-1 acquittal split, the cost of a second trial, and the strain on the family3:46all weigh against it.3:46It's Massachusetts standard instruction to break a deadlock, sometimes called the3:51dynamite charge.3:52The judge gave it once after the second impasse note and refused to give it again on3:56Friday.3:56Parallel to the criminal case, both Clancy's filed wrongful death and malpractice4:01suits against health care providers in January 2026.4:04They allege misdiagnosis, uncoordinated polypharmacy, and poor monitoring over4:09roughly four months, more than a dozen psychiatric medications, and over 304:13prescriptions from September 2022 to January 2023.4:17Named among the providers are Dr.4:19Jennifer Tufts, nurse practitioner Rebecca Gelada, Astor Mental Health, and South4:24Shore Health.4:25Those civil cases were still pending as of late August.4:28Patrick Clancy's lawyers said reliving the case in another trial would be4:32extraordinarily painful.4:33Five weeks and more than 80 witnesses never settled the only question that mattered.4:38Her state of mind in the moment the facts were agreed.4:40The legal line between psychosis and criminal intent was not.4:44To her supporters, this is a story of failed postpartum care and overmedication.4:48To the prosecution, it is the murder of three children, and they reject treating a4:51hung jury as proof of innocence.4:53The trial ended without an answer.4:55Whether there's a second one now rests with the Plymouth County District Attorney4:59and a status conference scheduled for September 29th.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗