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A retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge pushed back on the notion that the Lindsay Clancy murder trial will end with a hung jury, saying a verdict is still possible despite Tuesday’s deadlock note from the jury.
Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan, all under age 6 — who were found strangled at the family’s home in January 2023.
Jurors went home Tuesday after more than 23 hours of deliberating over four days.
In a note sent to Judge William Sullivan on Tuesday, jurors said that “after many hours of deliberation, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision.” He directed them to resume their work.
“I brought you back out because I know that this was a long trial. All right, I know there were over 80 witnesses. There were over 300 exhibits. Because of that, I’m going to ask you to go back out, keeping in mind all of the instructions that I gave you to go out and to continue your deliberations at this time. All right. And so with that, I’m going to ask you to go back out. Like I said, keep in mind the instructions I gave you reviewing the evidence, and I’d ask you to, resume your deliberations at this time,” Sullivan said.
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The jurors deliberating in Clancy’s murder trial are discussing several options, which include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility (insanity) or not guilty.
Retired Massachusetts Superior Judge Jack Lu told Fox News Digital that the deadlock note doesn’t necessarily signal a mistrial is likely, and said a verdict is still possible.
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“It is common for juries that eventually reach a verdict, especially in highly emotional cases, to initially report that they are deadlocked. So you could see a unanimous verdict later in this case,” Lu said. “There should be no rush to judgment.”
“These jurors are deciding a difficult, difficult, difficult societal issue. No future jury and nobody else is going to be in a better position to decide these issues… it’s a critical public service,” he added.
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Lu said that Sullivan was “150% correct” in not issuing a Tuey-Rodriguez charge to the jury today, which would have encouraged the jurors to keep deliberating toward a unanimous verdict. The instruction is used carefully in Massachusetts to avoid pressuring any individual juror, and Lu said giving it now would have been premature.
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The retired judge said it was “still a little early” to read the deadlock as a sign the jury will ultimately hang.
“It’s still too early, and we could go much longer on these deliberations, and it would be totally legitimate,” he said.
Jurors will return on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. to resume deliberations.