True crime grabs the headlines as judge refuses to to declare a mistrial for "deadlocked" jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial. The judge order the jury to keep trying to reach a verdict after a dramatic sixth day of deliberations in a case that has gripped America, reported the BBC.
Tensions flared in court after the jury forewoman sent
the judge a note saying one juror would not follow the judge's instructions on
reasonable doubt.
There was audible shock in the room when the defense
team asked for the juror to be removed, a request that was denied by the judge.
Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of
first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children - Cora, five, Dawson,
three, and eight-month-old Callan - at her Massachusetts family home on 24
January 2023.
The former labor and delivery nurse does not deny strangling her two sons and daughter in the basement of their house.
But her lawyer argues she was suffering from
postpartum psychosis at the time, and could not distinguish right from wrong.
The jury of nine women and three men in Plymouth has
deliberated for some 35 hours without a verdict, following nearly six weeks of
trial proceedings.
The panel has twice previously sent the judge notes
saying it could not come to a unanimous decision, but Thursday was the first
hint of rancor in the deliberation room.
Clancy's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said in court that the jury forewoman had sent another note, this one complaining to Judge William Sullivan that a juror was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.
Reddington and prosecutor Jennifer Sprague had an
animated discussion with the judge in court.
Reporters in the room could not hear the exchange, but
the BBC saw exasperated facial expressions and gestures from Clancy's lawyer.

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