This story may contain content readers find disturbing or triggering. For help with postpartum mood disorders, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is free, confidential, and 24/7. Text or call 1-833-TLC-MAMA. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 988 or go to https://988lifeline.org/ to chat online.
After deliberating Lindsay Clancy’s fate for more than 10 hours over two days, jurors were excused Friday without reaching a verdict. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about seven hours Friday, and three-and-a-half hours on Thursday.
“It’s been a long day for everybody,” Judge William Sullivan said before he dismissed the jurors for the weekend. They will return Monday morning.
Earlier, jurors asked a question, which the judge did not disclose it in court. Sullivan summoned Clancy’s lawyer and prosecutors to sidebar, where they privately discussed the question and answer.
However, Sullivan was observed passing two plastic bags to a courtroom clerk that contained Clancy’s prescription pills. They are among many exhibits that were admitted during the five-week trial and are now being reviewed by jurors.
Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington later said the jury asked to see Clancy’s prescription pill bottles and the knife she used to slit her wrists and neck. They were exhibits in the case but had not been sent to the jury room.
Jury questions, and answers, are considered part of the public record, and it’s highly unusual for them not to be publicly disclosed. Sometimes jurors are brought into the courtroom as their question and the answer are read in open court. Other times, a judge sends the answer into the jury room. In this case, jurors were not brought into the courtroom, where Clancy’s parents, members of the public, and the media were gathered. Then he publicly announced that the session was over, and immediately called a recess.
Clancy, 36, has admitted killing her children, then slashing her wrists and neck and jumping out a second-story window in a suicide attempt. She remains paralyzed from the waist down and appears in court each day in a wheelchair.
She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, asserting an insanity defense in a case that has drawn international attention for its focus on women’s postpartum mental health.
The question for the jury is whether she should be held criminally responsible.
Reddington has argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the slayings, was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct, and lacks criminal responsibility because she was unable to obey the law.
Prosecutors allege the killings were premeditated and carried out with extreme atrocity and cruelty by Clancy, who wanted to kill herself because she was tired of her life. She decided to take the children with her because she didn’t trust anyone else to care for them.
Should jurors acquit her in Plymouth Superior Court, she would not go free but would be sent to a state psychiatric hospital where she’d come up for periodic reviews to determine whether she can live safely in the community.
Here’s how Friday unfolded.
Clancy is feeling ‘nervous, scared deep down,’ her lawyer says — 4:33 p.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
After the jury was dismissed for the week, defense attorney Kevin Reddington left the courthouse, encircled by reporters on his way to his car.
Asked if he was confident about the impending verdict, he said, “I’m never confident. I don’t know what a jury’s gonna do, so I’m not gonna say ‘Oh, yeah, I’m confident.’”
He said Clancy is feeling “nervous, scared deep down, as usual.”
“If they put you in a locked room, and you were looking at the possibility of three consecutive life sentences, what would you feel like?” he asked a reporter.
Reddington said he thinks the jurors have been “very, very focused.”
When someone warned the throng of reporters of a coming curb, Reddington quipped, “Don’t even tell them. Let ‘em fall.”
State troopers blocked reporters from following Reddington to his car once he crossed the path into the parking lot behind the courthouse. Earlier, troopers told media gathered outside that the court had asked them to instruct photographers not to shoot in the back parking lot, where the jurors parked.
Jury has deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days — 4:01 p.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
After deliberating Lindsay Clancy’s fate for more than 10 hours over two days, jurors were excused Friday without reaching a verdict. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about seven hours Friday, and three-and-a-half hours on Thursday.
Some of the jurors nodded in agreement as Judge William Sullivan told them not to read anything about the case over the weekend.
‘It’s been a long day for everybody,’ judge says — 4:00 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
“It’s been a long day for everybody,” Judge William Sullivan said as he briefly addressed jurors before dismissing them for the weekend.
He reminded them to avoid all outside coverage of the case and to refrain from discussing it with anyone outside deliberations, which resume Monday at 9 a.m.
Jury dismissed — 3:55 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Judge William Sullivan brought jurors in shortly before 4 p.m. to send them home for the weekend. Deliberations will resume Monday.
Jurors have deliberated for roughly 10 hours — 3:41 p.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Picking up deliberations after lunch, jurors as of 3:30 p.m. had discussed the case for about 10 hours without reaching a verdict.
If that continues, it’s expected they’ll be brought into the courtroom around 4 p.m. to be sent home for the weekend, with deliberations resuming Monday morning.
Onlookers gather outside courthouse during lunch break — 1:54 p.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
Outside the courthouse, more people are beginning to gather while the jury breaks for lunch.
Diane and Benjamin Russo, of Wareham, sat on a stone bench facing the courthouse. Diane Russo, 54, said the couple have watched the trial on television and drove to the courthouse Friday to “support” Clancy and the children. She said she hopes the jury finds Clancy not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility.
A former emergency room nurse at South Shore Hospital, Russo said she experienced postpartum depression after the births of her daughters, who are now in their 20s.
“When I would go to work, I literally went the long way to avoid the birthing unit, because just seeing it gave me anxiety,” she said.
She said she disliked how prosecutors spoke about postpartum mood disorders during the trial.
“I don’t think they’re recognizing that it’s a real thing,” she said.
She plans to return to the courthouse Monday if a verdict is not announced today.
In a patch of grass near the building, Renee Kimball, the organizer of a “Stand in Peace for Lindsay” demonstration last week, sat on a picnic blanket with three other women. None wore pink, the color the demonstrators popularized as a symbol of support for Clancy.
Lunchtime break at courthouse — 1:20 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The court is in an hourlong recess until 2 p.m. after nearly four more hours of deliberations without a verdict.
A mother and teenage daughter come to courthouse in opposition to the ‘pink shirts’ — 12:54 p.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
On a bench facing the courthouse, Christine Fernandes, 48, sat with her 15-year-old daughter Elsie Medeiros, holding up handwritten signs on white printer paper: “1st Degree MURDER” and “Kidslaughter.”
Fernandes, of Fall River, drove to the Plymouth courthouse Friday after watching the trial on television during the preceding weeks. She said the case “struck a nerve” with her, as did videos she watched of women wearing pink outside the courthouse in support of Lindsay Clancy.
“Why pink?” she asked repeatedly, pointing out that green is a color more commonly associated with mental health awareness. She said she was troubled by discussions of women’s mental health during the trial that she said have shifted focus from Clancy’s three children.
“I can understand, yes, women go through more up-and-down emotions than men” Fernandes said. “Nobody’s denying that. It still doesn’t make it okay for you to kill your kids.”
On Friday, few people gathered near the courthouse to wait for a verdict wore the bright pink clothing that has become associated with the trial’s media spectacle. Still, Fernandes said she planned to sit outside with Medeiros and their dog Oscar, who scampered on his leash at her feet, for as long as possible.
“I’m here because I’m seeing things online and I’m like, I have an opinion too and I want it to be heard,” she said.
She said she hopes the jury finds Clancy guilty of first-degree murder.
Local cafe frequented by Clancy trial attendees hands out free coffee outside courthouse — 11:50 a.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
Two employees from Marylou’s Coffee are handing out free iced coffee from a table in the parking lot of the Plymouth courthouse.
The coffee shop chain has a small drive-through location across the street from the courthouse. During the trial, water bottles and coffee cups bearing the company’s bubblegum pink labels often rested on stone benches and barriers outside the building.
Employee Jodi Wild, 47, said the coffee shop has seen “a little bit of an uptick” in business since the trial began.
“We’re just over here giving away coffee to the media and everybody inside the courtroom who’s been in here for a month, just putting up with all of this,” Wild said. “Now that the jury’s out, we figured we’d give away some coffee while you guys are sitting and waiting.”
A quiet scene outside the courthouse as jurors deliberate — 11:13 a.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
Outside the Plymouth courthouse, reporters mill around and fiddle with camera stands while a few spectators sit on stone benches. The scene is far more subdued this morning than it was during some days of the trial, when crowds of Clancy supporters gathered.
Michael Riddle, 69, of South Carolina, was one of the few people who roamed the pavement in front of the building, taking videos of the courthouse and the assembled press corps.
On vacation in Massachusetts with his wife this week, Riddle said he wanted to visit the courthouse after watching the Clancy trial on television.
“We were coming up here to see Cape Cod and Nantucket and all those places, and it just happened to be good timing,” he said.
He said his background as a pharmacist helped him understand testimony jurors heard about the medications Clancy took.
Clancy’s lawyer leaves courthouse briefly — 10:57 a.m.
By Ariela Lopez, Globe Correspondent
Clancy’s defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, exited the courthouse and walked into the parking lot. He told reporters he was going to his car but instead walked behind a dumpster at the end of the lot and appeared to pace in silence.
In response to reporters’ questions, he said he did not know where Clancy’s family was, and declined to say where Lindsay Clancy is or how she is feeling.
After pacing in the grass behind the parking lot for a few minutes, Reddington retrieved something from his car and returned to the courthouse.
“It’s nice out there, you know?” he said to a photographer as he walked back toward the building.
Jury asked to see bottles of Clancy’s medications and the knife she used in her suicide attempt, defense attorney says — 10:56 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, said the question from jurors was a request to see Clancy’s prescription pill bottles and the knife she used to slit her wrists and neck. They were exhibits in the case but had not been sent to the jury room.
Jurors may review all of the evidence in the case, and the medications and knife were sent back to the jury room upon request. They weren’t initially provided, along with other exhibits, because they are narcotics and a weapon.
The carving knife was covered with blood and found on a nightstand in the master bedroom on the second floor of Clancy’s Duxbury home after she tried to take her own life.
Judge instructed jury on Thursday that they may consider the effect of prescription drugs on Clancy — 10:41 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Jurors were instructed by Judge William Sullivan Thursday that they may consider the impact prescription drugs had on Lindsay Clancy at the time of the slayings. She had been prescribed dozens of medications for anxiety, depression, and anxiety in the four months leading up to the slayings of her three children on Jan. 24, 2023. The question jurors will want to resolve is: How many of those was she taking?
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Judge William F. Sullivan summoned Clancy’s lawyer and prosecutors to a sidebar to discuss the jury’s question, but ended the session without publicly disclosing what it was.
Sullivan was seen passing two plastic bags to a courtroom clerk that contained Lindsay Clancy’s prescription pills. They are among many exhibits that were admitted during the five-week trial and are now being reviewed by jurors.
Her medication, and how much she was taking, has been a point of dispute during the trial. The defense argued that Clancy was overmedicated and her mental health was deteriorating after she was prescribed a litany of drugs. But prosecutors argued that she wasn’t taking many of the medications she had been prescribed and noted that a number of bottles found in a kitchen cabinet after the slayings were full or partially full.
During a search of Clancy’s Duxbury home the night and early morning after the slayings, investigators seized prescription medications found in a kitchen cabinet. Later, her husband, Patrick, and his attorney gave police additional medications that had been prescribed for Lindsay and were in the console of his car.
Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, told jurors he found additional medications in a nightstand drawer beside her bed days after the slayings, which had been missed by police during their search.
Jurors were never brought into the courtroom, where Clancy’s parents, members of the public and the media were gathered in the spectator section. Sullivan publicly announced that the session was over and immediately called a recess.
Jury questions, and answers, are considered part of the public record and it’s highly unusual for them not to be publicly disclosed. Sometimes jurors are brought into the courtroom as their question and the answer are read in open court. Other times, a judge sends the answer into the jury room.
‘Every trial lawyer has a story about a question that you think means one thing, and then the result is something different,’ retired judge says — 10:07 a.m.
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
When a jury asks a question, the biggest mistake lawyers and the public can make is believing the inquiry provides insight into what is happening during the closed-door deliberations, a retired Superior Court judge cautioned Friday after the Clancy jury returned with a question.
“Every trial lawyer has a story about a question that you think means one thing, and then the result is something different, “ said Thomas Drechsler, whose legal career includes 30 years in private practice and six as a prosecutor. “It’s just very hard to read a lot into these questions.”
Drawing on his near 12 years as a judge and speaking in general terms, he said the Clancy jury has extremely complex legal issues to review, including charges ranging from first-degree murder to manslaughter and the insanity defense argued by attorney Kevin Reddington.
“I’ve seen, you know, probably hundreds of jury questions in my career, and you really cannot rely upon those to predict the outcome,” he said. “It’s a very sad and complicated case.”
Jury resumes deliberations after judge calls lawyers to brief sidebar — 10:03 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The lawyers returned to the courtroom and Judge William Sullivan called them to a sidebar around 10 a.m. Sullivan said nothing revelatory from the bench following a sidebar, and the jury resumed its deliberations. It was not clear whether the jury had presented a question.
Jury appears to have question as it continues to deliberate — 9:57 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Reporters in the courthouse saw prosecutors being led into the courtroom, suggesting that the jury likely has a question.
Officials have not yet opened the doors to the public, which includes a long line of members of the media waiting to find out what the jury wants to know.
Deliberations resume on Friday — 9:13 a.m.
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Judge William Sullivan took the bench and greeted the parties before the jury was brought in.
He ran through his standard questions asking if the jurors had avoided outside coverage of the case overnight. He then sent them out.
“At this time, you may resume your deliberations, thank you,” Sullivan said.
Lindsay Clancy lawyer says he has ‘no way of knowing’ how long jury will take on verdict — 9:00 a.m.
By Sarah Rahal, Globe Staff
After a day of closing arguments, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, emerged from the Plymouth courthouse Thursday surrounded by supporters and press, offering little prediction about what comes next.
“We’re just sitting there waiting. We talk and wait — that’s all you could do,” Reddington told reporters.
When asked about the prosecution’s closing argument, delivered by Jennifer Sprague, he said, “She did a nice job. She marshaled the facts and presented her case.”
Jury composed of 9 women and three men — 8:45 a.m.
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
A jury of 9 women and three men will decide Lindsay Clancy’s fate.
An 18-member panel selected in July heard all of the evidence in the case. Just before deliberations began Thursday, six alternates were randomly selected by the judge’s clerk by pulling names from what resembled a bingo tumbler.
Three men and three women are now alternates, and will be kept separately from the deliberating jury but continue to stay nearby.
Judge William F. Sullivan told the alternates they should not discuss the case because if any jurors are unable to continue serving for any reason, such as illness, an alternate would have to step in.
How gender perceptions could affect the jury’s decision — 8:30 a.m.
By Sarah Rahal, Globe Staff
As jurors begin deliberating Lindsay Clancy’s fate, gender stereotypes about women, motherhood, and emotion could influence how they interpret the evidence, said Jessica Salerno, associate professor of psychology at Cornell University who studies jury decision-making about verdicts and punishment.
“Lindsay Clancy’s status as both a woman and a mother could cut both ways with jurors,” Salerno said.
The jury, composed of nine women and three men, may judge Clancy more harshly because she violated expectations that mothers should be nurturing and protective, Salerno said. That could make them more inclined to view the killings of her three children as intentional or premeditated.
But those same expectations could bolster Clancy’s insanity defense.
“Jurors may have difficulty imagining a mother killing her children unless she was severely mentally ill,” Salerno said.
Jurors’ perceptions of emotion could also play a role, despite Judge William Sullivan’s instruction Thursday that they set aside bias and decide the case based solely on the evidence.
Salerno said her research has found that people can be suspicious when someone fails to display the level of emotion expected after a traumatic event. But displaying emotion carries risks, too. People who already distrust someone may interpret those emotions as “fake and manipulative,” she said.
“What emotion to express in court is a very fine needle to thread,” said Salerno, “and often dictated by gender.”
Here’s exactly what the Lindsay Clancy jury must decide as it deliberates behind closed doors — 8:00 a.m.
By Lea Skene and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
The judge in the case has instructed the jurors on the law that applies in Clancy’s case and potential verdicts they may consider: guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter for the slaying of each child; or not guilty by reason of a lack of criminal responsibility due to a mental disease that made her incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of her actions or obeying the law.
As in other criminal cases, the burden of proof for a conviction falls on the prosecution.
Here is what the jury must decide.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Jenna Reyes can be reached at jenna.reyes@globe.com. Follow her @jennaelaney and Instagram @jennaelaney. Sarah Rahal can be reached at sarah.rahal@globe.com. Follow her on X @SarahRahal_ or Instagram @sarah.rahal. Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.