Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial

A Massachusetts judge has declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder case after the jury reported it was hopelessly deadlocked and the defense’s emergency appeal was denied. Judge William Sullivan ended the trial Friday after an emergency defense appeal was denied, following jurors sending a note for a third time saying they couldn’t unanimously decide whether to hold her criminally responsible for killing her three young children in 2023.

What happened in court

The move came roughly two hours after Judge Sullivan told the court he would declare a mistrial after the jury failed for the third time to reach a verdict in the case of the mother accused of strangling her three young children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in 2023.

Instead of settling for a mistrial, Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington announced he wanted to appeal to Massachusetts’ top court, and Sullivan gave him an hour after receiving a jury note saying that “with a heavy heart” it was still deadlocked.

The emergency appeal

In its appeal, the defense asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to order the trial court to further question a holdout juror or remove the juror, arguing the juror was biased and refusing to follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt, citing jury notes to the court.

Clancy’s lawyers wrote in the appeal that the holdout juror’s reasoning reflected a bias against those who suffer from debilitating mental illness. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the request for an emergency appeal Friday.

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The underlying case

After nearly a week of deliberations and a last-ditch appeal from the defense to the Supreme Judicial Court, the jury of nine women and three men failed to reach a verdict as to whether Lindsay Clancy, 36, should be held criminally responsible for her children’s deaths, ending a trial that sparked international discussion about postpartum mental healthcare.

The five-week trial at the Plymouth courthouse did not center on whether Clancy killed her children, but whether her mental state was so compromised she could not be held criminally responsible for the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. Prosecutors acknowledged Clancy struggled with her mental health but argued she planned the killings because she wanted to end her life, and Clancy, who is paralyzed from the waist down from a suicide attempt immediately after the killings, attended proceedings in a wheelchair accompanied by two nurses.

What comes next

Judge Sullivan set a court date of Sept. 29, 2026, to reconvene and determine next steps. Clancy remains charged with murder and will continue to be held at a psychiatric hospital until her criminal case is resolved.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz now has to decide whether to try Clancy again in front of a different jury, for first-degree murder or less serious charges. Cruz said the evidence and the law merited first-degree murder charges, saying outside court that children were murdered and it’s their job to seek justice, calling it a case of three children who died a violent death at the hands of the person who was supposed to love them the most.

Options market and stocks to watch

This is a legal story, not a market-moving event, but traders tracking media coverage and adjacent names may want to keep an eye on the following:

Watch for WBD and PARA, parents of CNN and CBS News, which typically see viewership spikes around high-profile trial coverage.

Watch for CMCSA, parent of NBC News, and DIS, parent of ABC News, both of which have carried live updates on the Clancy proceedings.

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