The jury deciding the fate of Lindsay Clancy reported for a second consecutive time on Wednesday that it cannot reach a unanimous verdict, pushing the closely watched murder trial toward a critical stage.
Judge William Sullivan responded Wednesday afternoon with a special instruction designed to encourage deadlocked jurors to reconsider their positions before sending them back to deliberate again.
On Thursday morning, the judge sent the jurors back to deliberate.
Speculation is mounting that the judge could declare a mistrial as soon as Thursday afternoon or on Friday.
The development came following approximately six weeks of testimony in Plymouth Superior Court.
It was the second time in roughly 24 hours that the nine-woman, three-man jury told Sullivan it had been unable to agree on a verdict.
Shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sullivan delivered what is known in Massachusetts as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge after jurors again reported that they remained at an impasse.
Sometimes referred to as a “dynamite charge,” the instruction is used when a Massachusetts jury reports that it cannot reach a unanimous decision.
The instruction reminds jurors that they were selected in essentially the same manner as any replacement jury would be and that there is no reason to assume another panel would be more capable of resolving the case.
Jurors are encouraged to reconsider their positions and listen carefully to the arguments of fellow panel members while being instructed not to abandon honestly held beliefs merely to produce a verdict.
Sullivan then ordered the jury to resume deliberations.
The latest development followed the jury’s first deadlock note Tuesday morning, approximately one hour into its fourth day of deliberations.
Jurors told Sullivan that despite spending many hours discussing the case, they were “unable to come to a unanimous decision.”
Sullivan declined to declare a mistrial at that point and instead instructed them to continue working, pointing to the extraordinary amount of evidence presented during the trial.
More than 80 witnesses testified, and jurors received more than 300 exhibits before beginning deliberations on the afternoon of Aug. 27.
By the end of Tuesday, the jury had deliberated for more than 23 hours across four days.
Wednesday’s proceedings were also delayed after Sullivan individually questioned jurors following the arrest of a woman outside the courthouse who was accused of recording members of the jury.
BREAKING: The judge in the Lindsay Clancy trial gives the desperately deadlocked jury a last resort “Tuey-Rodriguez” charge after five days of deliberation.
The “Tuey-Rodriguez” charge is an instruction urging the jury to try again and reach a unanimous verdict. pic.twitter.com/DlcBJOv5D0
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 2, 2026
The woman was charged with witness intimidation, according to CBS News.
There is no predetermined amount of time a Massachusetts jury must deliberate before a judge can conclude that it is hopelessly deadlocked.
A judge may continue sending jurors back to deliberate as long as the court believes there remains a reasonable possibility of reaching unanimity.
Wednesday’s Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, however, represents a significant step because it is specifically intended to address a jury that has reported being unable to agree.
If jurors again tell Sullivan they cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the possibility of a mistrial becomes increasingly significant.
A mistrial would not mean Clancy had been acquitted or that the charges against her disappeared.
Instead, the case would generally return to a pretrial posture, leaving prosecutors with the option of trying Clancy again before another jury, negotiating a plea agreement or declining to pursue another trial.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has said he expects prosecutors would retry the case if the current proceedings end without a verdict.
Clancy, 36, has admitted killing her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — inside the family’s Duxbury home on Jan. 24, 2023.
She then attempted suicide, suffering injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and is pursuing a lack-of-criminal-responsibility defense based on claims that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and other mental health conditions.
Prosecution expert Dr. Kirk Heilbrun testified that he concluded Clancy remained criminally responsible, including that she understood the wrongfulness of her actions and retained the ability to conform her conduct to the law.
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