Judge lectures Lindsay Clancy jury on reasonable doubt, tells them to keep deliberating

Judge lectures Lindsay Clancy jury on reasonable doubt, tells them to keep deliberating

Jury has twice told the judge in the case of the U.S. mother who killed her kids that they are deadlocked

WARNING: This article contains details about violence against children.

The deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Thursday following a dramatic sixth day of deliberations.

Earlier, Clancy's defence lawyer sought to remove one of the jurors after the foreperson said in a note that the juror wouldn't follow the judge's instructions about reasonable doubt.

The judge declined, and ordered the jurors and alternates to return Friday morning.

"Remember the instructions I have given you over and over again," the judge reminded them, telling them to stay away from any news coverage or discussion about the case.

The decision appeared to frustrate Clancy's lawyer.

"The court has an instruction from the foreperson of that jury that has been working for a week now saying there is one juror who refuses to listen to the law that you have given him or her on reasonable doubt," Kevin Reddington said, his voicing rising.

"I suggest respectfully that the soft instruction that you gave them saying at the sidebar can you listen to the law as I instruct you does not focus on the issue."

But Sullivan said removing a juror from a "deliberating jury is a sensitive undertaking."

"I don't feel it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations. I don't feel it's appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11," Sullivan said. "At this point, I have asked if they are able follow instructions. They swore earlier they could. They have said at this point they can."

The deadlocked jury has twice told the judge in the past two days that they can't agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three children.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse, doesn't deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argued that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors said she knew what she was doing when she killed Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan Clancy, who was eight months old.

If the jury can't agree whether or not the Massachusetts woman is criminally responsible, the judge could declare a mistrial.

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