What's next for Lindsay Clancy after a mistrial in her murder case

Geoff Bennett:

The murder trial that has captured national attention has come to an end for now. After five weeks of testimony and seven days of jury deliberation, the trial of Lindsay Clancy, charged with killing her three small children in 2023, ended today in a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict.

Ali Rogin has more.

Ali Rogin:

A judge in Massachusetts declared the mistrial after jurors said for a third time that they were unable to reach a unanimous decision and after the defense made a last-ditch effort to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Judge William Sullivan, Massachusetts Superior Court:

All right, members of the jury, at this point, I'm going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I'm going to declare a mistrial. I understood how hard everybody worked in this case. I understood that you all gave everything you could and probably more than you thought you could.

Ali Rogin:

The trial has put a spotlight on maternal mental health. Clancy's lawyers have argued she was experiencing postpartum psychosis during the killings and should not be held criminally responsible. Prosecutors said she was lucid and planned them ahead of time.

For more, we're joined by Brad Bailey, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in Boston.

Brad, today's events in the courtroom were just dizzying and very dramatic, the judge finally declaring a mistrial after several days of telling this jury to go back and keep deliberating, only to be told that there was one holdout juror the whole time. And then there were these Hail Mary attempts by the defense attorney to block that mistrial declaration.

What do you make of all of this? How unusual are today's series of events?

Brad Bailey, Criminal Defense Attorney:

They are highly unusual, Ali, going back to yesterday, not only with a note from the foreperson really revealing what was going on inside of the jury room, but also at the same time identifying the juror that the foreperson person said was not being willing to consider the law on reasonable doubt as given by the judge.

And to really show things in that detail is something that no judge wants to see or to allow, because juror deliberations are supposed to be protected, and the privacy of those are very, very carefully guarded.

Ali Rogin:

And, today, following the mistrial, the district attorney said his team has not yet decided whether or not to move to retry Lindsay Clancy. Here's what he had to say.

Timothy Cruz, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, District Attorney:

The noise in this case may be louder than it is for other prosecutions in our county. But we have treated it the same as any other case. Children were murdered. And it's our job to seek justice.

Ali Rogin:

In the meantime, Clancy is going to remain at the psychiatric hospital where she's been receiving treatment for three years.

But, Brad, what is going to go into the DA's decision on whether or not to retry this case? And would a second trial necessarily have to look like this one did?

Brad Bailey:

I think Tim Cruz told you, in all likelihood, what the decision is going to be, and that decision is going to be based on the fact that there are three deceased young children.

I happen to believe that he's unlikely going to get any better result than a hung jury and it is an exercise in futility. I think the defense is going to be ready. I think their case is even going to be even stronger here. He could possibly consider moving forward on second-degree murder or manslaughter, one which has carries 15 to 25 to life but with the possibility of parole, as opposed to no chance of parole, which comes with the murder one or manslaughter at 20.

But then he allows Kevin Reddington to go jury-waived. And whenever you go jury-waived in lack of responsibility cases, you have a more favorable forum, because you have judges that are more open and understanding of lack of responsibility or insanity defenses.

Ali Rogin:

So that means it could be a bench trial without a jury at all?

Brad Bailey:

That means it could be if he doesn't go forward on murder one, and he knows that, and he knows that's an advantage to Kevin Reddington. So I do not see Tim Cruz doing anything other than going forward on a first-degree murder charge.

And I think that's unfortunate, because, as I said, I think it's going to be the same result. But at the end of the day, the hope is right now that light has been shed on this very little understood and woefully under-resourced mental disorder of postpartum psychosis.

It is real, it is very serious, and it should be designated in the next DSM as an Axis I severe mental health disorder because it clearly is. And, if nothing else, the hope here is that the public and the medical community got educated about all of that.

Ali Rogin:

On that holdout juror, members of the jury and the defense attorney himself accused this juror of not following the judge's orders on how to consider the evidence. Here's what Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, said after the mistrial was declared:

Kevin Reddington, Attorney For Lindsay Clancy:

They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was. So I hope that guy can sleep well at night.

Ali Rogin:

So he seems very confident that this juror was not acting in good faith, but how can he be so sure?

Brad Bailey:

At the end of the day, that juror was questioned along with all 12, all 11 other jurors yesterday and asked if he was willing and could follow the law, and clearly indicated that he would. The law was read to him again yesterday and again today.

And I think that the result of what happened with a single justice of the supreme judicial court is, there's nothing else you can do. And you can have 11-1 or 10-2 deliberations that will result in mistrials. I have had them myself. I have had 6-6, 7-5, all across the spectrum.

But as you have heard, Ali, and as your viewers and listeners know, all it takes for a hung jury is one.

Ali Rogin:

Brad Bailey, former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, thank you so much for joining us.

Brad Bailey:

Thank you, Ali.