PLYMOUTH, Mass. — As jurors deliberating the fate of Lindsay Clancy continue their work Tuesday after telling a judge they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, a Boston criminal defense attorney says the development is not unusual in a case of this magnitude.
Boston 25 legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Elyse Hershon said it is common for judges to send jurors back to continue deliberating after an initial indication that they are deadlocked, especially in a lengthy and complex trial.
“Essentially the first time that a jury says that they can’t come to a decision or they can’t come to a unanimous decision, that’s not going to be the end of it,” Hershon said. “That’s not going to be the hung jury mistrial.”
On Tuesday morning, Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan told jurors to continue deliberating after receiving a note that said, “After many hours of deliberation we are unable to come to a unanimous decision.”
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The jury has been weighing whether Clancy is criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children in Duxbury in January 2023. The case has centered largely on competing expert testimony regarding Clancy’s mental state at the time of the killings.
Hershon said the divide among jurors likely stems from how they view expert testimony.
“I would anticipate some jurors are crediting the prosecution’s experts, while some jurors are putting more weight on the defense experts,” Hershon said. “This is a very divisive case, with very strong emotions and very sad facts.”
While the jury’s note signals disagreement, Hershon said it does not necessarily mean a verdict is out of reach.
“As the process goes along, they’re either going to come together, or they’re going to become further apart,” she explained.
If jurors return again and indicate they remain deadlocked, Sullivan could provide what is known as a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, a more detailed set of directions encouraging jurors to make another effort to reach a unanimous verdict.
“The key really is that Tuey-Rodriguez instruction,” Hershon said. “It basically tells them they have one more chance to do this.”
If jurors remain unable to agree after receiving that instruction, the judge could declare a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Should that happen, Hershon said the case would not necessarily be over.
Clancy would remain committed to Tewksbury Hospital, where she has been held throughout the proceedings, while Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz decides whether to retry the case.
“They could do it again,” Hershon said. “We could potentially be looking at another trial.”
Deliberations were ongoing Tuesday afternoon.
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