Three jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial revealed that an unidentified holdout juror prevented a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity, ultimately leading to a mistrial. Clancy, 36, admitted to strangling her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, in January 2023. Her defense argued that she was overmedicated for postpartum depression and that prescribed drugs induced psychosis.
"We weren't trying to figure out if she murdered the children, she did and she's admitting to that. We're trying to figure out: Did she know right from wrong at that time?" said jury foreperson Roni Carlson to NBC Boston. Carlson, along with two other female jurors, stated that 11 out of 12 jurors were ready to find Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity, based on evidence including her journals and testimony from her mother-in-law that demonstrated her love for her children.
"And with everybody saying she loved her children so much and everything proved she loved her children, from her journals to her mother-in-law, everything proved that she loved her children," Carlson continued. "So she had to have snapped."
The jurors described the holdout juror as unwilling to interact or understand their perspective. "He had reasonable doubt. He admitted he had reasonable doubt," Carlson recounted. "I started filling out the forms, I was so excited. There were three forms I had to fill out, and then he said 'but I'm still not going to say she's not guilty.'"
After more than 37 hours of deliberation over five-and-a-half weeks, the jury of nine women and three men could not reach a unanimous decision. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington attempted to seek an emergency order for further deliberations, but the motion failed. Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial Friday afternoon at Plymouth Superior Court.
Clancy now faces a potential retrial. In an effort to prevent this, Reddington appealed to former President Donald Trump for a pardon, describing Clancy as a "good person."
"Mr President, I hope that you would consider this young lady, the type of person she is, what she's been through, and consider a pardon," Reddington said on Good Morning America. He further described Clancy as "intelligent" and "hardworking."
Reddington also expressed openness to reaching a deal with District Attorney Tim Cruz to avoid another trial. "I'm willing to listen to Tim [Cruz]. I've known Tim for 30 years. I hope, however, after this trial, that he would revisit that issue and we could work something out that will be acceptable for both sides," he stated.