A judge has moved to declare a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s murder case after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict, but he dramatically paused the decision to allow her lawyer to launch an emergency appeal.
Judge William Sullivan said on Friday he had no choice but to declare a mistrial after the jury reported for a third time that it remained deadlocked following seven days of deliberations.
But the judge held off on formally declaring the mistrial for one hour, giving Ms Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington an opportunity to seek an emergency appeal from a higher court in a last-ditch bid to keep the jury deliberating.
Ms Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility to the murder of her three kids Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callan in January 2023.
Clancy did not deny killing her children but her defence argues she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time.
Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing.
After the killings, her husband Patrick Clancy found her badly injured in the yard, where she landed after jumping from a second-story window. She was left paralyzed from the waist down.
The dramatic last-minute appeal follows days of chaos inside the courtroom, with Ms Clancy’s lawyer asking the judge to remove one juror who the jury foreman said was refusing to properly apply the legal standard of reasonable doubt.
More to come.
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