Lindsay Clancy Jury Deliberations Continue Without Verdict on Day 5

<p>The jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial spent a fifth day deliberating on Wednesday, reporting for a second time that it was deadlocked. The jury received a rare instruction from the judge urging them to continue working toward a verdict but ultimately went home without reaching a unanimous decision.</p><p>The developments in the Massachusetts murder trial bring it closer to the possibility of a mistrial, although jurors are scheduled to return on Thursday to continue deliberating.</p><p>The panel of nine women and three men resumed deliberations after informing Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan a day earlier that they could not unanimously agree on a verdict. When jurors again reported they remained deadlocked on Wednesday, Sullivan delivered a Tuey-Rodriguez charge, a formal instruction encouraging them to continue deliberating while reminding them not to abandon their honestly held beliefs to reach a unanimous verdict.</p><p>Jurors continued deliberating for several more hours after receiving the instruction before being dismissed for the day without a verdict.</p><p>The Tuey-Rodriguez charge, named after two Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions, encourages jurors to carefully consider one another's views while preserving their sincerely held convictions. It is generally considered the final procedural step before a judge may declare a mistrial if jurors remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict.</p><p>Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler stated, "The reasoning is that it often works. It encourages the jurors to rethink their own feelings in light of what other jurors feel, reminding them that no one's ever going to be in a better position to decide this than them." However, Drechsler noted that if jurors again report they are deadlocked after receiving the instruction, "I think there's a high likelihood that it will end up in a mistrial."</p><p>The jury must determine whether Clancy was criminally responsible when she killed her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan — inside the family's Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24, 2023.</p><p>Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, does not dispute killing the children. Her defense argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and should be found not criminally responsible. Prosecutors contend she carefully planned the killings, knew right from wrong, and concealed disturbing thoughts from medical providers because she understood they were wrong.</p><p>Outside the courtroom, Dawn Light, the woman accused of filming jurors as they left the courthouse on Tuesday, was arraigned on a witness intimidation-related charge and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors stated that a video recovered from her cellphone showed Clancy jurors leaving the courthouse, while Light maintained she was trying to catch a glimpse of Clancy and did not realize she had recorded jurors.</p><p>A judge released Light on personal recognizance and ordered her to stay away from the courthouse, have no contact with jurors or witnesses, and refrain from sharing any images.</p><p>Before jurors resumed deliberations on Wednesday morning, Sullivan reminded those in the courtroom that orders protecting jurors and other participants "is being enforced and will be enforced," though he did not specifically reference Light's arrest.</p><p>Jurors will return on Thursday to resume deliberations, with the possibility of a mistrial looming if they again report they cannot reach a unanimous verdict.</p>