Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney demanded a holdout juror be removed from her murder trial after the forewoman reported the panelist “refuses to listen to the law” on reasonable doubt.
The revelation came Thursday following 36 hours of deliberations over whether Clancy, 36, should be found not guilty by reason of insanity for strangling her three children at the family’s Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023. The forewoman’s note to Judge William Sullivan triggered a heated courtroom exchange that left Kevin Reddington visibly enraged and rocking back and forth as he fought to have the juror replaced with an alternate.
“If we come back here in a half an hour with a mistrial because of the juror who has just spurned the instructions of this court, that’s a shame, that’s a real shame,” Reddington said in court.
“That’s why I object to the court’s ruling. I request that we have further inquiry. My motion is to remove this juror who refuses to listen to your instruction on reasonable doubt,” the lawyer continued.
Sullivan denied the request, explaining he could not take sides in the deliberations. “I don’t feel it is proper to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” the judge said. “I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or the eleven.”
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague backed the judge’s handling of the matter, arguing that probing the deadlock would improperly invade the jury’s private discussions. “There is no way to determine what the deliberations are, who is correct, who is incorrect, nor should we attempt to because that is part of deliberations,” Sprague insisted.
“I think what Your Honor has done by asking each juror if they are able to follow the law and then giving the instruction on reasonable doubt is appropriate,” the prosecutor added.
The judge had summoned jurors into court individually to take an oath and answer questions at sidebar before reading the full panel fresh instructions on the definition of reasonable doubt. The panel of three men and nine women had already told Sullivan twice that they were deadlocked, on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the judge urging them to continue working through their disagreements both times.
Throughout the arguments, Clancy appeared deeply troubled, furrowing her brows and closing her eyes for a moment. After the jury exited and the legal arguments concluded, Reddington placed his hand on her back in a gesture of reassurance. The judge sent jurors back to continue their work before dismissing them around 4 p.m.
Reddington told reporters outside court that the juror dispute remained unresolved and would be argued further Friday morning. “There will be an inquiry by the judge tomorrow at 9 o’clock,” he said.
“I don’t know what the question is going to be,” the defense attorney added. “We will have an argument about it … I think it will be in open court.”
He stressed that Thursday’s note indicated “there is a person who has doubt but will not listen to the judge’s instruction.” Reddington also said he expects the Plymouth County District Attorney to pursue a second trial if the current proceeding ends in mistrial, and declared he’d be ready to go “next week.”
The jury’s task is to determine criminal responsibility for the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callan. Clancy admits she killed them with exercise bands but claims she was suffering severe postpartum psychosis, hallucinated a voice directing her actions, and was failed by inadequate medical care and misdiagnosis. Prosecutors counter that she meticulously planned the killings as part of a suicide plan to take the children with her. Immediately after the stranglings, Clancy cut her neck and wrists, took prescription medication, and threw herself from a second-floor window, injuring her spine and leaving her paraplegic. She now appears in court in a wheelchair.
Earlier in deliberations, on Aug. 28, jurors had asked to examine the knife from Clancy’s suicide attempt and her prescription pill bottles. The panel is scheduled to return Friday at 9 a.m. For a seventh day of deliberations.