The defense blamed one juror for the deadlock.
The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mom who killed her three young children while in the family's home on Jan. 24, 2023, ended Friday in a mistrial after seven days of juror deadlock.
Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, claimed throughout that trial that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she strangled her children and attempted to take her own life. The prosecutors, Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham, argued that Clancy -- who pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder -- is criminally responsible for her children's deaths.
Judge William Sullivan, who oversaw the trial, set a court date of Sept. 29, 2026, to reconvene and determine next steps.
See below how the final days of the trial unfolded.
Watch a special edition of "20/20," "The Trial of Lindsay Clancy," airing Friday, Sept. 4, at 9/8c on ABC, streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
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Lindsay Clancy put her head on the table as her case neared a mistrial.
Several of her supporters are crying in the bathroom.
Courtroom spectators looked shocked when the judge said he planned to declare a mistrial and further surprised when he gave the defense an hour to ask the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to intervene.
The court is in a state of suspended tension awaiting an outcome.
Judge William Sullivan said Friday he planned to declare a mistrial after the jury signaled they were unable to reach a verdict following seven days of deliberation.
Sullivan said he would hold off on formally declaring a mistrial for one hour to give defense attorney Kevin Reddington time to ask the state's highest court for an emergency stay.
Reddington will ask the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to effectively force Sullivan to allow the jury to continue deliberating.
Reddington said outside court yesterday he did not want a mistrial because he "kicked the sh--" out of the prosecution's case.
Nearly 40 hours into deliberations over seven days, the jury said in a note on Friday, "It is with a heavy heart we are unable to come to a unanimous decision."
Judge William Sullivan said his read of case law is that he must declare a mistrial.
"The jury did not ask to be sent back," Sullivan added.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague encouraged a mistrial declaration. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington, however, asked the judge to send the jury back one more time.Â
Lindsay Clancy showed no reaction.
Lindsay Clancy's attorney said the juror he claims is preventing a unanimous verdict looked the judge "in the eye and lied" on Thursday, when the juror pledged to follow instructions about proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said a note from the jury foreperson indicated the holdout juror "made statements acknowledging doubt but refuses to apply it."
"This person will not apply reasonable doubt to the evidence" and return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, Reddington told Judge William Sullivan.
Sullivan disagreed, saying the note "does not indicate this is a person who refuses to follow the law."
Sullivan declined to conduct a further inquiry of the juror but said he would remind the entire jury it must follow the law whether they like it or not.
Reddington pushed the judge to be more forceful in his instruction.
Sullivan interrupted.
"What do you want me to do, get a brass band?" an exasperated Sullivan said. "I am not glossing over this issue."
Jurors then filed stoically into the courtroom to begin a seventh day of deliberations.
The judge told jurors not to identify one another in any future notes and reminded them about his instructions after Thursday's dust-up.
