Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is asking for the removal of a juror.
As deliberations continued on whether the 36-year-old is criminally responsible for the 2023 deaths of her three young children, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington requested that judge William F. Sullivan remove one member of the jury on Sept. 3. He accused the juror of “refusing to listen” to the judge’s instructions about reasonable doubt in the case and holding up the verdict in the murder case.
“The court has an instruction from the foreperson of that juror that's been working for a week now, saying that there's one juror who refuses to listen to the law that you've given him or her on reasonable doubt,” Reddington told the judge according to a video from the trial posted to YouTube by USA Today. “I suggest, respectfully, that the soft instruction that you gave them, saying at the sidebar, ‘Can you listen to the law as I instruct you?’ does not focus on the issue.”
“The question is not sufficient enough,” he continued. “It does not allow any foundation for a motion to remove the juror who refuses to accept your instructions on the law on reasonable doubt.”
Reddington noted that if the jury were to come back with a mistrial “because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it's a shame.”
He made a motion to have the juror removed because said juror “refuses to listen to your instruction on reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague then approached the podium, confirming they did have the note from the jury but there was “no way to determine what the deliberations are, who's correct, who's incorrect.”
“Nor should we attempt to because that's part of deliberations,” she added, saying prosecutors do not have “an objection to the questions or the reinstruction.”
Judge Sullivan declined the motion to have the juror removed, explaining that “the discharge of a deliberating juror is a sensitive undertaking.”
“I don't feel that it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations. I don't feel it's appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11,” Sullivan explained. “At this point I've asked if they are able to follow my instructions. They swore earlier that they could. They've said at this point that they can.”
The jury has since been dismissed for the day without giving a verdict and will resume deliberations Sept. 4.
Clancy is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and while she has not denied that she killed her and then-husband Patrick Clancy’s children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, on Jan. 24, 2023 at their home in Duxbury, Mass., she had pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder and strangulation.
During previous deliberations on both Sept. 1 and Sept. 2, the jury said they had been unable to reach a consensus and remained deadlocked. The judge urged the jurors to reconsider their positions to avoid a hung jury and a mistrial.
Throughout the trial, which began on July 27, Reddington has argued that Lindsay Clancy could not be held criminally responsible for their deaths as she wasn't in her right mind due to postpartum psychosis.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun—who evaluated Clancy for three days in April—testified that she killed her children as part of what he described as “altruistic filicide,” saying she wanted to kill herself and believed they would suffer without her, so she thought killing them would allow them to be “together in heaven.”
As the former labor and delivery nurse strangled them, she told the children, according to Heilbrun, “Go to God, baby. Go to God.”
Heilbrun also shared what Clancy told her husband after he returned home and asked what she had done. According to the psychologist, she replied, “I tried to kill myself.”
As for Patrick Clancy—who was out running errands when the deaths occured—he testified that his ex-wife struggled with mental health issues after Callan’s birth in 2023, according to CNN, and also sought treatment after Dawson was born in 2019.
However, he was never worried about the kids’ safety, as he didn’t believe she had "any intention” of actually hurting them.
While Clancy herself did not take the stand during her trial, excerpts from her journal were read for the jury, according to ABC 7, in which she’d written, "I want help. I want to be well."
For more revelations from Clancy's trial, keep reading.
Patrick Clancy Says Lindsay Clancy Told Him She Thought About Suicide and Harming Their Kids
Lindsay Clancy's now-ex-husband was the first witness called to testify during her murder trial, which began July 27 in Plymouth Superior Court.
The 35-year-old former nurse has not denied killing daughter Cora, 5, and sons Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, but has pleaded not guilty of murder, the defense attributing her actions to postpartum psychosis.
Patrick Clancy testified that Lindsay struggled with her mental health after giving birth to Callan in May 2023, according to CNN.
She also sought treatment after Dawson was born in 2019, he said, "but it didn’t last very long.”
Lindsay's "big spiral," as he referred to it, occurred in December 2023 after she started taking a new medication, one of several she'd been prescribed since September, Patrick said. He testified that Lindsay told him she had "intrusive thoughts" about harming their children and herself.
He didn't worry about the kids' safety, he said, because she didn't seem to have "any intention” of actually hurting them.
On Dec. 31, Patrick said, Lindsay went to the E.R. at Massachusetts General Hospital "because she was still talking about thoughts of suicide. She was admitted to an affiliated psychiatric facility, and when she was discharged Jan. 5 she seemed "much better."
Patrick Clancy Describes Last Time He Saw Their Children Alive
On Jan. 24, 2023, Lindsay "was having one of her best days," Patrick testified, per CNN, recalling that his then-wife built a snowman in the yard.
"She was playing with the kids," he said, "and she seemed in a good mood."
That morning she had taken Cora to a doctor's appointment and he had texted her a picture of Dawson after he "dressed himself completely for the first time."
Patrick told the court he had felt "hopeful" since his wife's release from the hospital. “Her mood seemed better,” he said. "She was more active, and she was able...to partake in more things.”
Before he left to pick up dinner and medication for Cora, he said he kissed one of the kids on the head and told them he'd "be right back."
Prosecutors allege Lindsay sent Patrick on errands to get him out of the house on purpose. Then, Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham said in her opening statement, she strangled the children with exercise bands "deliberately and meticulously."
Patrick testified July 29 that no one told him he shouldn't leave Linday alone with their kids, telling the court, "I didn't know what psychosis was until after this happened."
What Patrick Clancy Told 911, Cops After Finding His Children Unresponsive
In the audio recording of Patrick's seven-minute 911 call that was played in court July 29, according to the Associated Press, he's heard telling the dispatcher, who repeatedly asks what happened, "She killed the kids!"
Lindsay Clancy Wrote in Her Diary That She Wanted Help
Lindsay wrote about her struggles, including that she felt "incredibly sad and guilty" about not breastfeeding Callan, according to journal excerpts read to jurors Aug. 5.
"I want help," she wrote in an entry read by her attorney. "I want to be well."
In another, she said, "I have crazy brain fog. I feel like I can't make a plan. I live moment to moment waiting for the next nap time. I'm terrified of Cal getting overtired now because I feel can't help him."
Toxicologist Details Medication Found in Lindsay Clancy's System
When Lindsay was hospitalized after killing her children and allegedly tried to take her own life, she tested positive for the antidepressant mirtazapine, the mood stabilizer lamotrigine, the antidepressant trazodone and quetiapine, a drug used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression, forensic toxicologist Justin Brower testified Aug. 5.
He said, per The Guardian, that his lab found that only the level of quetiapine in her blood was slightly elevated, but it wasn't at a "toxic" or "suicidal concentration." He further described the levels in her blood as "not consistent" with someone who takes a bunch of pills before trying to end her life.
Under defense cross-examination, Brower also said that toxicology results "don’t tell the entire story."
Lindsay's attorney Kevin Reddington said in his July 28 opening statement that she has bipolar disorder and medication worsened her condition.
On the day she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan, Reddington said, she heard a voice telling her, "'This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself.'"
Family Nanny Calls Lindsay Clancy a "Wonderful Mom"
The Clancy family's nanny Elaine Rossi testified Aug. 5 that she had no concerns about Lindsay's fitness as a mother.
“I observed a wonderful mom who loved her kids," Rossi said. "She was concerned about their safety, and Callan eating and sleeping. She was a wonderful mother.”
Lindsay Clancy Wasn't Planning to Return to Work, According to Former Colleague
Andrea Hennigan, who previously worked with the defendant at Massachusetts General, testified Aug. 6 that Lindsay told her at lunch after Callan was born that she didn't plan to go back to work as a labor-and-delivery nurse because she "was not in a mental state to take care of patients.”
“She talked about insomnia and not feeling herself,” Hennigan said, per the AP. “I believe she might have used the words brain fog or something like that.”
Lindsay texted her in January 2023, Hennigan said, that she was experiencing "bad or negative side effects" from medication.
Lindsay Clancy Sobs as Prosecution Shows Autopsy Photos, Defense Accuses Prosecutors of "Hot Mic" Moment
The judge called for a brief morning recess Aug. 6 after Lindsay broke down in court while jurors viewed autopsy photos from the examination of 8-month-old Callan's body, according to the Patriot Ledger.
When they returned from their morning break the next day, Reddington told Judge Williams Sullivan he had an issue to raise.
Asked what he had to share, per the Ledger, the lawyer replied, "I want to tell you that [a prosecutor] got picked up on a hot mic saying 'shut her up' during the playing of their autopsy."
“This is not like Handmaid’s Tale," Reddington added. "You can’t tape her mouth shut."
Prosecution lawyers said in response that they reviewed footage of the moment in question and what appeared to have been said was, 'Shut it off,' indicating they should remove the autopsy photos from the screen.
Lindsay Clancy's Final Texts to Husband Patrick Revealed
Lindsay's final text exchange with Patrick before, as he testified, he came home and found her lying in the yard and their children in the basement, appeared to be about dinner plans.
“Any chance you want to do take out from ThreeV,” she sent him at 4:53 p.m. on the evening of January 24, 2023, according to messages read in court Aug. 14 by prosecution witness State Trooper Timothy Chiappini, who analyzed Lindsay's cell phone. “I didn’t cook anything. It’s been a long day.”
Patrick replied, "Yeah," and she wrote back, "Okie dokie, check the menu when you can.”
Patrick then asked if Callan was up from his nap yet, and she replied, "It was just a short nap."
Also per the texts read in court, Lindsay said at 5:07 p.m. that she'd have a Mediterranean Power Bowl, while Patrick went with "scallops and pork belly risotto" a minute later.
Lindsay Clancy's Search History and Apple Watch Readings Are Shared
Called to the stand on Aug. 17 by the prosecution, digital forensics expert Ian Whiffin testified that Lindsay made several online searches about various medications, including "how quickly does wellbutrin work for depression" and "ketamine for suicidal ideation" in the final days before her children were killed.
She also made searches related to postpartum psychosis five days before their Jan. 24 deaths. And on that day, she looked up "kids miralax" and "CVS pharmacy".
Whiffin also spoke on the data recorded by Lindsay's iPhone Apple Health app and her Apple Watch, that showed she had climbed two flights of stairs at 5:03 and 5:33 p.m.
The Jury Was Suddenly Excused Due to "Unforeseen Circumstance"
Court was decidedly not in session in the later hours of Aug. 19 when Judge William Sullivan suddenly dismissed the 18 jurors due to what he called an "unforeseen circumstance."
Though he did not provide further details, Sullivan told the jury, per ABC News, "This is not something we saw coming, but you're not to speculate about what it is. You're not to hold it against either side. It's just something that we have to deal with."
E! News has reached out to Plymouth Superior Court for comment but has not heard back.