PLYMOUTH — A Sutton woman who allegedly recorded a video of jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial leaving the courthouse on Tuesday put the “sanctity of the judicial system at risk,” a Plymouth County prosecutor said at the woman’s arraignment on Wednesday.
Dawn I. Light, 56, was arrested while sitting in her car she had parked in a restricted area of the parking lot, officials said. Her location provided a view of the door being used by jurors, whose identities are being kept secret under court order, to enter and exit the building.
Light was arraigned in Plymouth District Court on a single count of witness intimidation. She pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance.
Light, 56, initially told State Police she only wanted to see Clancy, but a check of her cellphone showed she had taken video of jurors as they left the courthouse after their fourth day of deliberations Tuesday. She then deleted the video, officials said.
“This individual is not only videoing jurors that are coming in and out of the courthouse. She went back there to a restricted area. She was caught in that restricted area,” Assistant District Attorney Nicole Piacentini said. “The sanctity of the judicial system is at risk because of her actions.”
But Light’s defense attorney, Jennifer White, said the situation was a “complete misunderstanding” and that Light’s only goal was to see Clancy, not interact with jurors. She said Light is a retired registered nurse who has “the utmost respect for our judicial system.”
“She understands the magnitude and seriousness of this charge,” said White, adding that Light has no criminal record.
Light, who is familiar to reporters as someone who occasionally waits in line to attend the Clancy trial, was barred by District Judge Shelby M. Smith from returning to the courthouse and ordered not to share any images of jurors she may have stored on the cloud.
Before the jury began deliberating Wednesday, Judge William F. Sullivan briefly questioned each one under oath about whether they had seen or heard anything that would influence their ability to decide Clancy’s case fairly, an apparent effort to make sure they were not affected by Light’s arrest.
According to a State Police report filed in court, Light was sitting in her car in the parking lot for court employees around 4 p.m. when she was seen recording people who were leaving the building on her cellphone.
“This is the area in which the jurors have been exiting to preserve their safety and identifies,” Trooper Abigail K. Robinson wrote.
Light said she was parked there only so she could see Clancy and insisted to the investigating trooper that she had not photographed or recorded jurors.
“She was adamant that she had not filmed anyone leaving the courthouse,” Robinson wrote.
With Light’s permission, the trooper examined the camera roll on Light’s phone and found no images of anyone leaving the courthouse, Robinson wrote. When the trooper asked to check her deleted files, Light eventually agreed.
“We helped her access her recently deleted photos and videos, and in doing so located a video that showed individuals walking out of the courthouse,” Robinson wrote. “The court officer viewed the same video and identified the individuals in the video as the jurors.”
Light said she did not know she had recorded jurors, whose identities are kept private during the trial.
But Robinson wrote that Light “placed herself at a specific vantage point to specifically record people exiting the courthouse, knowing that the identities of the jurors have been protected.”
Police seized her phone.
Light first received her nursing license in 1993 and last had it renewed in 2021, according to state records. Her license expired in 2022, records show. She has “no public compliance actions or fines” on her record, according to the state Board of Registration in Nursing.
Light is due back in court Oct. 15.
Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism. Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.