Lindsay Clancy in court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, last week. Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenLindsay Clancy in court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, last week. Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty ImagesLindsay Clancy juror had reasonable doubt but would not agree to acquit, foreperson saysRoni Carlson, in wake of mistrial, says holdout juror could not be persuaded while colleague calls him ‘very arrogant’
A lone juror in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of the murder of her three children, would not agree to acquit Clancy despite expressing reasonable doubt about whether she was guilty, the jury’s foreperson said in an interview airing Monday.
Speaking to NBC 10 Boston just days after Clancy’s trial ended in a mistrial, Roni Carlson, the foreperson, confirmed there was one holdout juror who would not be persuaded to acquit Clancy due to insanity.
“He admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms. I was so excited,” said Carlson, a retired elementary school teacher. According to Carlson, the holdout juror then said: “But I’m still not going to say that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Carlson is one of three jurors who spoke to the Boston NBC affiliate.
In the NBC10 interview, another juror, Paula Devlin, called the holdout “very arrogant”, adding: “He really did not take anything that anybody said.”
The holdout juror has not yet spoken publicly about the trial.
During jury deliberations, Carlson told Massachusetts judge William Sullivan that one member of the 12-person jury was not following the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt.
Clancy strangled her three young children in January 2023 before attempting to kill herself by jumping out her bedroom window, leaving her paralyzed.
During the closely watched trial, prosecutors argued she intentionally killed the children.
The defense argued that Clancy, who did not deny killing her children, had sought help for her declining mental health before suffering a psychotic break.
The attorneys cast blame on the healthcare system for overmedicating her, in lieu of properly diagnosing her with postpartum depression.
The three jurors told NBC10 that the evidence presented during the trial indicated Clancy was a loving mother.
“Everything proved she loved her children, from her journals to her mother-in-law, everything proved that she loved her children. So she had to have snapped and not known what she was doing,” Carlson said.
The judge declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict.
Clancy remains held at a psychiatric hospital. A status hearing has been set for 29 September. Prosecutors have not yet announced if they will retry her.
In the US, call the national maternal health hotline on 1-833-852-6262. In the UK, the Pandas foundation offers support via WhatsApp on 07903 508334. In Australia, the national maternal and perinatal mental health hotline is 1300 726 306.
