Paralyzed Massachusetts mom Lindsay Clancy, accused of strangling her three children, sees murder trial end in mistrial after 11-1 deadlock

A Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children saw her murder trial end without a verdict after jurors deadlocked, court records show.

Lindsay Clancy, who has been held at Tewksbury Hospital, faced trial in the January 2023 deaths of her daughter and two sons, according to court documents.

Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on September 4, 2026, court records show.

The decision followed nearly seven weeks of testimony in a Massachusetts courtroom, according to proceedings.

Clancy was accused of strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan inside her home, prosecutors said.

The killings allegedly took place on January 24, 2023, according to prosecutors.

The defendant jumped from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt immediately following the alleged strangulations, court documents state.

The fall left Clancy paralyzed from the waist down, according to defense filings.

Clancy’s defense team argued that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder, according to court filings.

Her attorneys maintained that she should not be held criminally responsible for the deaths, defense records show.

Prosecutors disputed the defense claims throughout the seven-week trial. They argued that Clancy knew exactly what she was doing when the children died, court records show.

Jurors heard testimony from multiple psychologists during the proceedings, according to court records.

The panel deliberated for more than 30 hours across six and a half days, court records show.

Jurors remained deadlocked with an 11-1 split in favor of finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity, according to defense counsel.

Judge Sullivan declared the mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, court records show.

A mistrial is declared when a jury is hung and cannot reach a valid legal conclusion, according to court procedure.

Under Massachusetts law, the declaration ends the proceeding without a final decision on guilt, court records note.

A defendant is not acquitted by a mistrial declaration, according to legal rules.

Prosecutors retain the legal authority to retry an accused defendant following a deadlocked jury, according to state law.

Sullivan gave defense attorney Kevin Reddington one hour to seek an emergency stay from the state’s highest court before formally ending the trial, court records show.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the defense’s emergency appeal, according to court documents.

The defense argued in the emergency request that intervention was required to prevent an avoidable mistrial, according to NBC Boston.

“Intervention is necessary in this case to avoid an avoidable mistrial of a case that is so time and labor intensive and that has captured so much public attention,” the defense argued in the emergency request, per NBC Boston.

“It is also necessary to preserve the Defendant’s right to a fair trial by unbiased jurors applying the law and to avoid violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments and Article 114, which makes mental illness a protected category,” the filing stated.

Sullivan dismissed the jurors after the high court denied the emergency stay, court records show.

Before releasing the panel, Sullivan invoked remarks originally delivered by Winston Churchill, according to the court transcript.

“I always like that phrase, and I thought of that phrase when all of you were agreeing to be on this jury,” Sullivan said.

“You agreed to brace for that duty and each one of you knew how long the case was going to go, you knew how difficult the case was going to be to listen to, facts-wise,” the judge said.

“But still, you braced for that duty,” Sullivan said to the jurors.

The judge thanked the panel for its work during deliberations. “You should be proud of what you did,” Sullivan said.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following the dismissal, records show.

Cruz said his office had not yet decided whether to retry the case against Clancy, according to his statement.

“I appreciate the hard work of the jury in this case,” Cruz said.

“The jury obviously worked incredibly hard, stayed with that case for six and a half days,” the prosecutor said.

Cruz focused his remarks on the three young victims, according to the press conference transcript.

“In the end, I bring it all back to the child victims in this case, Cora, Dawson, and Callan,” Cruz said.

“This was, and it has always been, about getting justice for those three little babies,” Cruz said.

“We’re here at this courthouse today because those children are not,” the district attorney added.

The prosecutor reiterated that his office remains focused on the deaths of the children, according to his remarks.

“Children were murdered and it’s our job to seek justice,” Cruz said.

“I appreciate there are strong feelings and opinions tied to this case however our job is to set aside our opinions and focus on the facts. and the facts are that Lindsay Clancy killed her children,” the prosecutor said.

Cruz also addressed broader public debates regarding medical care that arose during the proceedings, according to his statement.

“This case is not about the health care system or how women are treated in it … those are all important issues, they stir up emotion and sometimes they stir up anger,” Cruz said.

“This case, however, was about Lindsay Clancy and what she did January 24, 2023, and the cruel and calculated killing of three innocents,” the district attorney said.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington delivered a statement outside the courthouse criticizing the prosecution, according to video records.

Reddington singled out the single juror who declined to join the 11 others in an insanity verdict, defense remarks show.

“Well, obviously this is not a time for gloating or bragging, expressing victory,” Reddington said.

“It’s a very sad case,” the defense lawyer said.

“[Plymouth County District Attorney] Cruz knows that he was crushed, that he doesn’t have a case, he doesn’t have to stand here and say that he’s advocating on behalf of the victims and then look down to see what their names are,” Reddington said.

The attorney described his client as “a fantastic, wonderful individual” who sat quietly through seven weeks of court proceedings, according to his remarks.

Clancy “stood tall — no pun intended, the poor thing is in a wheelchair as we all know for the rest of her life — sat there through seven weeks of a trial where nobody had anything bad to say about her except for the two prosecutors and apparently Tim Cruz,” Reddington said.

Reddington directed harsh words at the holdout juror who caused the hung jury, according to his statement.

“They know that they were robbed … he stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors who were so attentive … so wonderful … you could see how defeated they were sitting there,” Reddington said.

“I have a funny feeling they would have gone on for another week,” Reddington said of the other 11 jurors.

“So I hope that guy can sleep at night,” the defense attorney added.

Reddington said Clancy was “not good” following the mistrial, according to his public comments.

“Lindsay is very very very strong, she is a very very intelligent young woman, very emotionally invested and just a classic example of a tragic … her life is a tragedy,” Reddington said.

On September 8, 2026, Reddington appeared on Good Morning America to seek outside intervention, according to the network broadcast.

The attorney publicly asked President Donald Trump to grant Clancy a pardon, the broadcast showed.

“Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady the type of person she is, what she’s been through and consider a pardon,” Reddington said on the program.

Trump addressed the defense request on September 13, 2026, while speaking to reporters during a visit to Ireland.

“It’s a very sad situation,” Trump said.

“I, I certainly heard that. But, look — it’s a very sad, there is no winner there. There’s no, there’s no win, no matter what you do. It’s — three children are dead, so I don’t know,” Trump told reporters.

Trump stated that he could not intervene because the case is “actually a state situation” and “not a federal” matter.

Asked whether he planned to contact District Attorney Cruz, Trump noted that he had “heard from other people” that Reddington is “a very good attorney,” but did not commit to calling officials.

“I hope they can work it out,” Trump said.

“That’s something they have to work out. It’s a very sad — there is no win there,” Trump added.

Clancy has returned to Tewksbury Hospital, where she has been held since 2023, court records show.

If a retrial is held and a second jury convicts Clancy, she faces a statutory penalty of life in prison without parole, according to court documents.

If a jury finds her not criminally responsible by reason of insanity, Clancy would be committed to a secure state mental health facility, likely for life, records show.

District Attorney Cruz has not yet announced whether Plymouth County prosecutors will try the defendant a second time, officials said.

The case remains undecided with another court hearing scheduled for September 29, 2026, court records show.