A judge has once more told the deadlocked jury in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy to.contine trying to reach a verdict after a dramatic sixth day of deliberations in a case that has gripped America.
Tensions boiled over in court after the jury forewoman sent the judge a note saying one juror would not follow the judge’s instructions on reasonable doubt.
There was palpable shock in the room when the defence team requested for the juror to be removed, a request that was not granted by the judge.
Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – at her Massachusetts family home on 24 January 2023.
The former labour and delivery nurse has not denied strangling her two sons and daughter in the basement of their house.
But her lawyer is arguing she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and could not distinguish right from wrong.
The jury of nine women and three men in Plymouth has deliberated for some 35 hours without a verdict, following nearly six weeks of trial proceedings.
The panel has twice previously sent the judge notes saying it could not come to a unanimous decision, but Thursday was the first hint of rancour in the deliberation room.
Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, stated in court that the jury forewoman had sent another note, this one complaining to Judge William Sullivan that a juror was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.
Reddington and prosecutor Jennifer Sprague had an animated discussion with the judge in court.
Reporters in the room could not hear the exchange, but the BBC saw exasperated facial expressions and gestures from Clancy’s lawyer.
