Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy murder trial after 11-1 jury deadlock

Deadlock in Plymouth County

Judge William F. Sullivan declared a mistrial on Friday, 4 September 2026, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. The 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse faced three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her five-year-old daughter Cora, three-year-old son Dawson, and eight-month-old son Callan. The trial in Plymouth County lasted five weeks before the 12-person jury, comprising nine women and three men, deadlocked after six days and over 30 hours of deliberations. Jurors returned to the courtroom deadlocked three separate times during the week. The final split was 11 to 1, with 11 jurors agreeing that Clancy should not be found guilty of first-degree murder.

Last-minute high court appeal

Courtroom observers gasped when Judge Sullivan announced his intention to conclude deliberations without a verdict. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington immediately lodged an emergency appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, seeking to replace the lone holdout juror with an alternate before a mistrial was finalized. The defense argued in a written petition that the juror refused to apply legal standards on reasonable doubt and displayed bias against individuals with mental illness. Prosecutors countered that the jury notes showed no evidence of bias, extraneous influence, or incapacity to deliberate. Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt reviewed the petition and declined to intervene, prompting Judge Sullivan to formally discharge the jury.

Competing arguments on mental illness

The prosecution and defense presented conflicting psychiatric accounts of the events of 24 January 2023. Clancy admitted that she strangled her three children at their home before cutting her wrists and jumping from a second-floor window, a fall that left her paralyzed. The defense argued that Clancy suffered from postpartum psychosis alongside severe overmedication, asserting that an auditory hallucination commanded her to commit the acts. Assistant district attorneys Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham acknowledged her history of depression and anxiety but argued that the killings were premeditated. Prosecutors alleged that Clancy sent her husband on errands to create a window of opportunity and fabricated psychotic symptoms to evade criminal responsibility. Buckingham stated the prosecution theory in court.

She no longer liked the life that she thought she wanted, and when she saw the opportunity to escape, she made the selfish choice to take it.

Next legal steps and family fund

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz, who has held the elected post for 25 years, stated that his office will decide shortly whether to retry Clancy on first-degree murder charges, reduce the counts, or dismiss the case. Cruz spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

This is, has been and will be about getting justice.

Reddington announced plans to file a motion for a directed finding of not guilty, asserting that prosecutors failed to prove their case. The court scheduled a status hearing for 29 September 2026. Outside the courtroom, an online fundraiser established in August by Brandee Mulligan for Clancy's parents, Mike and Paula Musgrove, surpassed $1.175 million after increasing its goal from $1 million to $3 million. The parents relocated from Connecticut to Massachusetts to attend court proceedings. GoFundMe confirmed it is reviewing related campaign pages, including several counter-fundraisers created after the mistrial.