Tensions flared outside Plymouth Superior Court on Thursday as supporters and opponents of Lindsay Clancy clashed while a jury continued deliberating over whether she was criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children.
One woman dressed in black confronted a Clancy supporter wearing pink, telling her: “This is a funeral. Three babies’ lives were lost. Would you wear that to a funeral?”
The exchange came as the 12-member jury entered a sixth day of deliberations in the closely watched Massachusetts murder trial. The panel, comprising nine women and three men, has now spent about 34 and a half hours considering its verdict.
Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, is accused of killing her children Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, at the family home in Duxbury in January 2023.
She has pleaded not guilty. Her defence argues that she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and psychosis, compounded by medication prescribed by medical providers, and was unable to understand the wrongfulness of her actions.
Prosecutors accept that Clancy was experiencing mental-health problems but maintain that she understood what she was doing and should be held criminally responsible.
Deadlocked Lindsay Clancy jury urged to reach verdict
The jury has twice told Judge William Sullivan that it cannot reach a unanimous decision. In response, he issued the Massachusetts version of a so-called “dynamite charge”, formally known as the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction.
The direction urges jurors to listen carefully to one another, reconsider their own views and make every reasonable effort to reach a verdict, while not abandoning an honestly held belief simply to secure agreement.
The judge’s intervention is intended to break a deadlock, but it does not guarantee that the panel will reach a decision. If the jurors remain divided, Judge Sullivan could be forced to declare a mistrial.
The possibility has grown after the jury’s first trial ended in a mistrial because of a separate deadlock. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to seek another trial, pursue a plea agreement or abandon the case.
Inside the packed courtroom, Clancy sat beside her lawyer Kevin Reddington, appearing to stare straight ahead as her hair partly covered her face. The prosecution team, including District Attorney Tim Cruz, was also present.
Her parents, Michael and Paula Musgrove, have attended proceedings throughout the six-week trial. They were seen leaving the courthouse during a lunch break before returning to support their daughter.
Clancy’s husband, Patrick, has remained at the centre of public attention throughout the case. He and Clancy have filed separate civil lawsuits against medical providers, alleging that she was overmedicated while being treated for postpartum mental-health problems.
The lawsuits claim that the treatment worsened her condition and contributed to the deaths of the children. The providers named in the actions deny liability, and several gave evidence during the criminal trial.
Outside court, Clancy’s supporters have frequently worn pink, while opponents have gathered to remember the three children. The latest confrontation underscored the bitter divisions surrounding a case that has drawn intense interest across the United States.
For now, the jury remains the only body able to determine whether Clancy is guilty of murder, or whether her mental state means she cannot be held criminally responsible for the deaths.
