A judge in Boston declared a mistrial Friday after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts woman charged with fatally strangling her three young children. Clancy, 36, acknowledged killing her children—Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months—but claimed she was not criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis.
The jury, composed of nine women and three men, deliberated for seven days but remained deadlocked. Eleven jurors favored acquitting Clancy by reason of insanity, while one juror opposed the verdict, prompting Judge William Sullivan to declare the mistrial. The prosecution now faces the decision of whether to retry the case before a new jury. Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said he would make that decision soon.
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, criticized the holdout juror, suggesting that one individual's refusal to agree with the majority deprived Clancy of justice. “They were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was,” Reddington said outside court. Clancy will continue to be held at a psychiatric facility pending the possibility of a new trial.
The case, which began with the deaths of Clancy’s children in January 2023 at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, has drawn national attention to the issue of maternal mental health. Clancy’s defense argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis—a rare but severe mental health condition affecting approximately one to two out of every 1,000 women after childbirth—which led her to hear commanding voices instructing her to kill her children.
Prosecutors opposed this defense, describing the killings as premeditated acts and maintaining that Clancy understood the consequences of her actions. The jury was instructed to consider several possible verdicts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, or not guilty by reason of insanity, which would result in Clancy’s confinement in a psychiatric institution rather than prison.
More than 80 witnesses testified during the trial, including psychiatrists, family members, and acquaintances who spoke to Clancy’s mental health history. Her ex-husband and others described her psychological fragility in the months leading up to the incident. During closing arguments, Reddington contended that Clancy had sought medical help repeatedly but received inadequate care.
Following the killings, Clancy reportedly attempted suicide by cutting her neck and wrists and jumping from a second-story window. The injuries have left her paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair.
The trial has echoed a similar case from 25 years ago involving Andrea Yates, a Texas mother who drowned her five children in 2001. Yates was initially convicted but later found not guilty by reason of insanity at a retrial in 2006 and committed to a psychiatric hospital.
President Donald Trump commented on the case Friday, calling it a “horrible tragedy” and expressing expectation of another trial. Meanwhile, supporters of Clancy, many wearing pink as a symbol of maternal health awareness, gathered outside the Plymouth courthouse throughout the proceedings to emphasize the need for improved care for women experiencing postpartum mental illness.