Mistrial is declared in Lindsay Clancy child killings case after jury
deadlocks
[September 05, 2026]
By MICHAEL CASEY and LEAH WILLINGHAM
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial
declared a mistrial Friday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in a
case that sharply divided many Americans over whether the Massachusetts
woman should be criminally responsible for killing her three young
children.
The trial generated intense interest for weeks, drawing attention to
maternal mental health after childbirth.
Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, never disputed
that she killed the children. But her attorney said she had a rare
condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids — the
youngest just 8 months old — then tried to take her own life in 2023.
Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing.
Friday's mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case
unresolved. In the end, the decision seemed to surprise no one in the
courtroom. Neither Clancy nor her family showed emotion as the judge
announced the trial was ending without a resolution.
Clancy's attorney believes she was close to acquittal
Clancy remains charged with murder and is expected to stay at a
psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved.
Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said he believes she would have been
acquitted if not for a juror who was the subject of a dispute over
whether the judge’s instructions were being followed.
Reddington said Clancy was “not good” when a reporter asked how she was
doing after the mistrial.
Her parents and her sister were escorted from the courthouse by state
police, saying nothing to reporters. Ex-husband Patrick Clancy, the
trial's first witness, has said in past interviews that he forgives her
and believes her actions were the result of mental illness.
A statement released by his attorney Friday said “the prospect of
reliving this tragedy through another trial is extraordinarily painful.”
Lindsay Clancy could face another trial
The prosecutor who decided to charge Clancy said there would not be an
immediate decision about a second trial. He said public opinion would
not be a factor.
“This was and has always been about getting justice for those three
little babies,” said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz.
“This case is not about the healthcare system, or about how women are
treated in it, or what diagnoses there are.”
He pointed out that the two trial prosecutors were “both mothers
themselves.”
The deliberations took a dramatic turn Friday when the judge said he was
going to declare a mistrial before suddenly changing course and letting
Clancy's attorney appeal that decision to the top court in
Massachusetts. But the court declined to stop the judge from declaring a
mistrial.
Clancy’s attorneys argued that one of the jurors revealed a possible
bias against people with mental illness, without elaborating. They
argued the juror should, at minimum, be questioned more thoroughly by
the judge, or even dismissed outright before a mistrial was declared.
The jury said it couldn’t reach a verdict 3 times
Prosecutors said Clancy acted deliberately when she strangled 5-year-old
Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy with exercise
bands. They said she contrived to get her husband out of the house on
Jan. 24, 2023, by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their
children and dinner for the family.
Clancy’s lawyer said she should not be held criminally responsible
because of her postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the
stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.
On three occasions, jurors said they were unable to reach a unanimous
decision. The jury’s foreperson told the judge Thursday that a single
juror wouldn’t follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt.
Outside the courthouse Friday, Reddington blasted the juror he believes
stood in the way of a verdict.
“They (the jury) know they were robbed by one man, for whatever his
agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that
were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful,” he said.
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Defendant Lindsay Clancy watches jurors enter the courtroom during
her murder trial on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg
Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
It was not clear how the jury was split or whether it favored
conviction or acquittal. Clancy could have been sentenced to life in
prison if convicted of murder. But if acquitted, the judge could
have ordered her confined to a mental health facility.
The judge ordered that the names of the jurors be shielded for at
least 14 days, saying the case garnered significant and divisive
attention.
What Trump said about the Lindsay Clancy case
Millions across the U.S. watched the livestreamed trial. Even
President Donald Trump said he was following the coverage.
“It’s a terrible situation. Look, she did a horrible, horrible
thing,” Trump said Friday. “Can’t be worse. But you’ll find out what
the price to pay is. There’ll be a price — a mental institution or
jail or something.”
Most days women supporting Clancy and dressed in pink would attend
the trial. Many referenced their own postpartum stories or troubling
experiences with the healthcare system. On Friday one of those
women, Marta Quijano, a 55-year-old surgeon, said the mistrial left
her “very sad for the family, for Lindsay.”
“I don’t think she deserves to have to go through this all over
again. I think this should have been resolved,” Quinjano said,
starting to cry. “It's very unfair. I feel as women we are treated
very unfairly. We get dismissed. Things are minimized. Even what’s
happened to today, I think one person failed her.”
The judge acknowledged early during deliberations that the trial had
been emotionally and physically exhausting for everyone. Much of the
testimony was excruciating to hear, from the heartbreaking 911 call
made by the children’s father who found their bodies, to the
descriptions of how they died.
Clancy was brought to tears several times. At one point, the judge
called a short break as Clancy’s loud sobs filled the courtroom
while the children’s autopsy photos were shown.
Lindsay Clancy's mental health was the focus of the trial
Over 21 days of testimony, jurors heard how Clancy’s mental health
collapsed after Callan’s birth.
Deeply anxious, unable to sleep and experiencing what she called a
disturbing brain fog, Clancy sought care from experts in
postpregnancy mood disorders, who prescribed multiple psychiatric
medications.
Clancy’s family members testified that she expressed concern about
her decline. Her former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, called her a
nurturing and loving mother who was “begging for help.”
Clancy checked herself into a psychiatric hospital early in 2023,
but her stay was short. She killed the children 19 days after she
was discharged, leaving their bodies in the basement of the family’s
home south of Boston. Clancy then jumped from a second-story window
and remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Prosecutors conceded that Clancy had severe mental illness, but
insisted she was able to understand and control her actions. They
emphasized that although she claimed to have heard a male voice
commanding her to kill the children, she never disclosed that to her
mental health providers before the killings.
___
Associated Press journalists Rodrique Ngowi in Plymouth; John Seewer
in Toledo, Ohio; Philip Marcelo in New York; Jamie Stengle in
Dallas; Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta; and Ed White in Detroit
contributed.
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