The jury deciding whether Lindsay Clancy was criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children has been sent home without a verdict after a third day of deliberations in Massachusetts.
The 12-member panel is due to return to Plymouth County Superior Court on Tuesday morning, after asking to end proceedings for the evening. Deliberations have now lasted more than 17 hours.
Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Cora, Dawson and Callan at the family’s home in Duxbury on 24 January 2023.
There is no dispute that Clancy strangled the children, but her defence argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and had lost touch with reality. Her lawyers say she could not understand that her actions were wrong or control her behaviour.
Prosecutors maintain that Clancy knew what she was doing and made a deliberate decision to kill her children before attempting to take her own life.
The jury, made up of nine women and three men, heard evidence from 85 witnesses during the five-week trial and is considering more than 200 exhibits. Jurors have also asked to examine pill bottles and a knife entered into evidence.
Clancy did not give evidence herself. Jurors heard from medical professionals who treated her, relatives and friends who had been told about her deteriorating mental health, as well as psychiatric experts who disagreed over her state of mind at the time of the killings.
The jury could convict Clancy of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter. If it finds that she lacked criminal responsibility because of mental illness, she could be committed to a state mental health facility rather than sent to prison.
