By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Three jurors from Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial expressed frustration during a TV interview that a single holdout juror had prevented them from reaching a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity for killing her three young children in 2023.
The three women, including the foreperson, spoke publicly for the first time in an interview that aired on Tuesday on the NBC-owned Boston station NBC10. Judge William Sullivan in Plymouth, Massachusetts, declared a mistrial on Friday after the 12 jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Jurors had repeatedly said they were deadlocked. Foreperson Roni Carlson blamed the impasse on one juror, a man, who refused to change his position despite acknowledging having reasonable doubt.
“He admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms, I was so excited,” Carlson said.
But she said the man then said: “I’m still not going to say that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Another juror, Paula Devlin, called the unnamed holdout juror “very arrogant.”
“He really did not take anything that anybody said,” she said.
The holdout juror could not be reached for comment, and the names of the jurors are sealed.
DEFENSE ARGUED CLANCY HAD PSYCHOTIC EPISODE
Clancy, 36, has admitted to strangling her three children with exercise bands on January 24, 2023, in the basement of their home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury. She then cut herself with a knife and jumped from a second-story window in an attempt to end her own life that left her paralyzed.
During the six-week trial, defense attorney Kevin Reddington sought to convince jurors she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, known in Massachusetts as lack of criminal responsibility. He argued she was a loving mother who had been in the midst of a psychotic episode when she killed Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan.
Carlson said the jurors were not trying to figure out if she killed the children.
“She did,” Carlson said. “And she’s admitting that. We’re trying to figure out, did she know right from wrong at that time? And with everybody saying she loved her children so much and everything proved she loved her children, from her journals to (testimony by) her mother-in-law. Everything proved that she loved her children, so she had to have snapped.”
Prosecutors have not said if they plan to retry the case. Clancy faces a life sentence without parole if she is eventually convicted of first-degree murder.
“I just found it to be harsh,” juror Kellie Farina said of the prosecution. “Very, very harsh.”
If found not guilty by reason of insanity, Clancy would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Her commitment would then be subject to regular review by the court.
Clancy remains in custody at a state hospital.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in BostonEditing by Rod Nickel)
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