A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the case of Lindsay Clancy, the American woman accused of killing her three children, but froze the ruling for one hour to let her defense appeal to a higher court.
Judge William Sullivan’s decision came after jurors said in a note that it was with a “heavy heart” they could not reach a verdict, with the panel deadlocked 11-1 — the majority apparently favoring a not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity.
Clancy, 36, does not deny strangling her children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — but says she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis at the time, a claim her defense says should excuse her of criminal responsibility. Prosecutors argue she carefully planned the killings and understood the consequences of her actions.
Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had repeatedly asked Sullivan to swap out the holdout juror for an alternate, but the judge refused. A mistrial would leave prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case before a new jury.
The five-week, televised trial drew more than 80 witnesses and reignited national debate over maternal mental health. Experts say postpartum psychosis affects roughly one to two in every 1,000 births.
