Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy triple infanticide case after jury deadlocks

Deadlock in Plymouth court

Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Friday, 4 September 2026, in the triple infanticide trial of Lindsay Clancy after a 12-member jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Proceedings at the Plymouth District Court, located near Boston in northeastern Massachusetts, concluded following six days of deliberations without a consensus on the defendant's criminal responsibility. Under Massachusetts criminal law, all 12 jurors must agree unanimously to deliver a verdict. Information shared among the judge, defense counsel, and prosecutors revealed that 11 jurors supported an acquittal on the grounds of criminal irresponsibility, while one juror opposed that outcome.

Competing arguments on postpartum psychosis

Clancy, a 36-year-old former obstetrics nurse, faced charges for the murder by strangulation of her three children, who were aged five years, three years, and eight months at the time of their deaths in 2023. She faces a potential sentence of life in prison. While acknowledging that she killed the children, Clancy pleaded not guilty, with her defense arguing that severe postpartum psychosis rendered her not criminally responsible. Defense attorneys presented evidence that Clancy experienced auditory hallucinations, including a voice that ordered her to kill the children. Clancy has used a wheelchair since surviving a suicide attempt immediately after the triple infanticide. Prosecutors rejected the insanity defense, maintaining that Clancy acted with premeditation, planned the killings in advance, and understood the full gravity of her conduct. Testimonies presented over several weeks of hearings included accounts from medical psychiatrists, family members, and Clancy's former husband, the father of the three children, who described her acute emotional distress.

Procedural disputes and state high court appeal

Deliberations became strained during the final days of the trial. The panel was granted a final opportunity to deliberate on Wednesday after alerting the judge twice that it could not reach a unanimous decision. On Thursday, defense counsel formally requested the removal of one juror, asserting that the individual refused to follow the court's legal instructions and blocked the verdict process. Judge Sullivan denied the motion to dismiss the juror and ordered the panel to return on Friday. Jurors subsequently submitted a written communication on Friday morning expressing with a heavy heart that they remained deadlocked. Judge Sullivan announced the mistrial from the bench but suspended the order for one hour to give the defense time to appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

I am going to declare the jury hung and declare a mistrial.

Dismissal of the jury and legal aftermath

After Massachusetts's highest court rejected the defense's emergency appeal, Judge Sullivan reconvened the Plymouth courtroom shortly after 14:00 local time (20:00 Central European Time). Sullivan thanked the jury, composed of nine women and three men, for performing their civic duty before formally discharging them. Because a hung jury leaves the underlying charges unresolved, Massachusetts prosecutors retain the authority to schedule a new trial before a different jury panel. The proceedings, which were broadcast live on television to packed courtroom galleries, focused public attention on maternal mental health and postpartum psychosis, an illness that advocacy organizations state affects one to two women per 1,000 deliveries.