Judge questions Lindsay Clancy jury after woman is accused of filming them

Jury to return for more deliberations on Thursday in case of mother accused of murdering her three children

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The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial was dismissed for the evening on Wednesday without reaching a verdict, after nearly 30 hours of deliberations over five days.

Addressing the 12-member jury – made up of nine women and three men – Judge William Sullivan said: “I know it’s been a long day.”

The jury, which is required to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children, has been asked to return on Thursday at 9am local time.

Earlier in the day, Clancy stared at the jury with no expression as the judge explained to the courtroom that jurors were once again at an impasse. “After much deliberation we are still unable to come to a unanimous decision,” he read from a note written by jurors.

Sullivan then gave the jurors a standard, legally required instruction intended to prod them to keep discussing a possible verdict, and they were sent back for more deliberations. If they remain deadlocked for a third time a mistrial is expected to be called in the high-profile case.

Deliberations had resumed on Wednesday after the judge questioned jurors one by one following the arrest of a woman accused of filming them as they left the courthouse on Tuesday.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, does not deny strangling her three young children at the family’s Massachusetts home in 2023, but she says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue that she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

Dawn Light, 56, of Sutton, Massachusetts , was arraigned on Wednesday at the same courthouse in Plymouth, south of Boston. Surrounded by reporters while going to her car, Light was asked why she filmed outside the courthouse on Tuesday.

“To see Lindsay. And I did see her. She was getting picked up by the van,” Light said.

Light’s attorney, Jennifer White, called it a “misunderstanding” and said Light, a retired nurse, was only trying to take a photo of Clancy and “not interact with the jurors”.

Light described herself as a “crime junkie” and Clancy supporter, in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group before her arraignment.

She was charged with intimidation of a witness, jurors or person furnishing information in connection with criminal proceedings. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf, and she was released without having to post bail but was ordered to stay away from the court, the jurors and any witnesses.

Assistant district attorney Nicole Piacentini said Light was parked in a restricted area behind the courthouse and is accused of filming the jurors as they left court. Light told state police that she was waiting to film Clancy and denied recording jurors, however, troopers found video of jurors in her phone’s deleted files folder, Piacentini said.

“The sanctity of the judicial system is at risk because of her actions,” Piacentini told a judge during the arraignment.

Clancy’s live-streamed trial has generated intense interest, with reporters and spectators packing the courtroom. The case has also sparked deep public divisions over her culpability and the issues around maternal mental health after childbirth.

Jurors had toldSullivan on Tuesday for the first time that they were unable to reach a unanimous decision, but he instructed them to keep trying – a common instruction in criminal trials when juries say they are having trouble reaching a verdict.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

In the US, the national maternal mental health hotline is 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