Jurors sent Judge William Sullivan a note at about 10 a.m. Tuesday saying they’re at a standstill.
updated on September 1, 2026 | 11:53 AM
5 minutes to read
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11:45 a.m. update: What happens if there’s a hung jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial?
Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial headed back into deliberations Tuesday morning after reporting that they have thus far been unable to reach consensus on a verdict.
With more than four weeks of testimony, hundreds of exhibits, and several complex legal questions on the table, the jury of nine women and three men has a herculean task ahead of them.
If they’re still reporting an impasse after further deliberations, Judge William Sullivan could give them a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, also known as a “dynamite charge,” as sort of a hail-Mary attempt to break the deadlock. The Tuey-Rodriguez charge basically instructs jurors that there is no reason to believe that a retrial would yield clearer evidence, or that another jury would be better suited to decide the case.
If the Tuey-Rodriguez charge fails to result in a verdict and the jury foreperson continues to report a deadlock, Sullivan could ultimately declare a mistrial in light of the hung jury.
Deadlocked juries prompted mistrials in two recent high-profile cases in Massachusetts: Karen Read’s first murder trial in 2024 and Emanuel Lopes’s first murder trial in 2023. In both, prosecutors opted to retry the case.
Read, charged with killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges following a 2025 retrial. Lopes was retried in 2024 and found guilty of killing Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna and bystander Vera Adams.
10:20 a.m. update: Lindsay Clancy jurors say they’re at a standstill
Nearly 18 hours into their deliberations, jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial say they’ve been unable to reach consensus on a verdict.
“After many hours of deliberation, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision,” the jury wrote in a note Judge William Sullivan that he read aloud in court.
After conferring with the prosecution and defense briefly at sidebar, Sullivan called the jury back into the courtroom and asked them to continue deliberations.
“I brought you back out because I know that this was a long trial. I know there are over 80 witnesses; there are over 300 exhibits,” he acknowledged. “But because of that, I’m going to ask you to go back out, keeping in mind all of the instructions that I gave you, to go out and to continue your deliberations at this time.”
If the jury remains deadlocked, Sullivan may later decide to read them a Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, or “dynamite charge,” in hopes of breaking the impasse. The Tuey-Rodriguez charge essentially tells jurors there is no reason to believe another jury would be better suited to decide the case, or that either side could offer clearer evidence in the event of a retrial.
Jurors will continue deliberations Tuesday to decide Lindsay Clancy’s fate, having already spent about 17 hours in talks.
Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder after strangling her children at home in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023. While she doesn’t deny killing 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, Clancy has raised what is commonly known as an insanity defense as she argues she cannot be held criminally responsible due to her mental health.
Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, told reporters Monday that jurors are
“working hard” as they pore over several weeks of testimony and hundreds of trial exhibits.
“They’ve been incredibly hard-working, paying attention through the whole trial,” Reddington said, adding that he’s been talking to Clancy throughout jury deliberations and trying “to keep her spirits up.”
Reddington has argued Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and heard a voice in her head telling her to kill the children and herself. She remains paralyzed after attempting suicide following the stranglings. In his closing argument last Thursday, he blamed Clancy’s downward spiral on “the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she got” after giving birth to her third child in 2022.
Though prosecutors agree Clancy was depressed and suicidal by January 2023, they’ve disputed her claims of auditory hallucinations and asserted she was capable of telling right from wrong.
Her children “were keeping her from ending her misery,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague argued. “And so she had to remove the protective factor. And I’m not saying she was happy about it; I’m saying that it was what she had to do to end her misery. But it was a choice.”
Earlier Monday, Reddington had sharp words for legal commentator Nancy Grace and Fox News host Sean Hannity over their comments on Clancy’s case. He was particularly critical of Grace’s on-air comment that Clancy “Google[d] ‘ways to kill’” prior to the killings.
Investigators filed search warrant affidavits in 2023 alleging Clancy “used her cellular telephone and her journal to document her mental state and her feelings about her children, in addition to keeping track of her medications, and researching ways to kill.” But when Clancy’s internet history came to light earlier this month during her trial, Reddington noted that her searches appeared to be focused more on potential methods of suicide.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse Monday morning, Reddington also blasted “Mr. Hannity with his men” for “discussing every little inch of Lindsay’s symptoms and criticizing.”
He added: “If you’re going to be a journalist, do it right.”
Hannity pushed back on his radio show Monday, noting that his team has reached out to Reddington several times inviting him to appear on air, with no response.
“So, I guess he’s only willing to talk to media where he can take cheap shots and not have a substantive discussion, which is what we’re offering him,” Hannity said.
He also disputed Reddington’s “Mr. Hannity with his men” remark, pointing to several women who have appeared on his show to offer commentary on Clancy’s case.
As jury deliberations continue Tuesday, there are several potential outcomes on the table. Though Clancy is charged with first-degree murder, jurors may also consider the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder or manslaughter instead.
If her insanity defense prevails and Clancy is found not guilty due to lack of criminal responsibility, she wouldn’t necessarily go free. As Judge William Sullivan told jurors last Thursday, prosecutors in those scenarios can — and often do — petition the court to have the individual committed to a mental health facility. A judge may do so if they feel the person is still mentally ill and poses a risk to themselves or others, but they can also revisit that decision during periodic reviews.
Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them Monday morning before they start their third day of deliberations. – Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger, Pool
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between. She has been covering the Lindsay Clancy murder case since January 2023.
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