PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — A note from Lindsay Clancy‘s jury revealed on Thursday that a single juror is holding out, preventing a unanimous decision — and the rest of the panel says that juror is refusing to obey the judge’s instructions.
Lindsay Clancy sits in court on Sept. 3, 2026. (Court TV)
Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she murdered her three young children. The defendant has admitted to strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan, but has said that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and obeying a voice that commanded her to kill the children at the time.
By Thursday afternoon, the jurors had deliberated for more than 35 hours over six days. Previously, the panel sent two notes to Judge William Sullivan saying it was deadlocked; Sullivan gave them a final instruction to reach a consensus on Wednesday.
Spectators and reporters packed the Plymouth County courtroom after the jury sent a note on Thursday afternoon, anticipating Sullivan could declare a mistrial if the note said the panel remained deadlocked. But the jury wasn’t brought in immediately; instead, the attorneys joined the judge for a sidebar discussion held out of public earshot.
Law&Crime’s Sierra Gillespie was inside the courtroom and said it was clear that both prosecutors and Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, were upset by whatever was being said. At one point, Sullivan handed Reddington paperwork; Reddington shoved the papers back and banged on the desk. Clancy, who is confined to a wheelchair from injuries she sustained when she attempted suicide after killing her children, was wheeled up to the sidebar to participate in the discussion.
One by one, jurors were brought in, questioned at the sidebar, and then returned to the jury room.
Finally, the entire panel was brought into the courtroom, and Sullivan read instructions detailing the meaning of reasonable doubt, emphasizing that if the Commonwealth has not met its burden of proving that Clancy was sane at the time she killed her children, then the defendant must be found not guilty.
After the jury was sent back to the deliberation room, Reddington approached the podium and revealed that the note from the foreperson said a single juror was holding out “who refuses to listen to the law” outlined in the judge’s instructions.
Kevin Reddington speaks to Lindsay Clancy on Sept. 3, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/POOL)
“I suggest, respectfully, that the soft instruction you gave them at the sidebar, ‘Can you listen to the law as I instructed you,’ does not focus on the issue,” Reddington said. “It does not allow any foundation for a motion to remove the juror who refuses to accept your instructions on the law on reasonable doubt, and if we come back here in half an hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it’s a shame. It’s a real shame, and that’s why I object to the court’s ruling.”
Reddington asked Sullivan to remove the juror entirely and replace them with one of the six alternate jurors. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague disagreed, saying each juror was polled on whether they could follow the law and that they could.
While leaving court on Thursday, Reddington told the media that Sullivan plans to conduct an inquiry of the juror, who has been identified, on Friday morning. “I don’t know what his question is going to be,” Reddington said. “We’ll have an argument about it. I don’t think it will be at the sidebar. I think it will be in open court, which is my concern: that we have our arguments in open and not at the sidebar.”
Because Sullivan already delivered the “Tuey-Rodriguez” charge — an instruction given to a jury that cannot reach a unanimous decision — he is expected to declare a mistrial if the jury comes back deadlocked again.
The jury resumed deliberations for about 20 minutes before they were sent home for the day. They will resume deliberations Friday.
