The jury in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy has reported being deadlocked for a second time, raising the possibility of a mistrial after 30 hours of deliberations spanning five days.
The case centers on whether Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she strangled her children and attempted to take her own life in January 2023, and whether she should be held criminally liable for the killings.
On Wednesday afternoon, Judge William Sullivan responded to the second deadlock report by reading the jury a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction. The instruction urges jurors to remember it is their "duty to decide this case if you can do so conscientiously," reminding them "there is no reason to suppose that the case will ever be submitted to six persons who are more intelligent, more impartial, or more competent to decide it than you are, or that more or clearer evidence will be produced on one side or the other."
Boston-based criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann spoke to ABC News on Wednesday about the situation. "At that point, the judge has to declare a mistrial, unless he has the consent of the jury who would want to go out again, and that's rather doubtful," Elikann said. He added, "This is really it. This is kind of the final push."
If a mistrial is declared, ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire outlined several possible next steps. "First and foremost, the defense is probably going to ask for bail, some amount of money or release, that she does not have to be incarcerated pending the prosecution decision as to whether or not they're going to retry her," Buckmire said.
Buckmire said the prosecution could make the decision to retry Clancy immediately or in the near future. Elikann said the prosecution could also choose to drop the case, though he noted that outcome was unlikely.
A second likely scenario, according to both attorneys, would be plea negotiations. "In many cases, the prosecution, after having a deadlocked jury, will kind of say to the defense, 'Let's compromise. We'll break down the charges to something much lesser, and can we agree on that, that you'll plead to something, a much more minor charge,'" Elikann said. Buckmire added it was possible prosecutors would not want to lessen any charges.
Elikann described the jury's inability to reach a verdict as both rare and, in some ways, predictable given the nature of the case. The jury continues to deliberate as of Thursday.
