Jury deadlocks after 7 days in trial of US mother who killed 3 children

A woman in her 30s who stood trial in the United States for killing her three young children walked out of a six-week proceeding without a verdict. The central question — whether she bore criminal responsibility given that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time — proved too divisive for jurors to resolve, even after seven days of deliberations.

A Plymouth, Massachusetts court declared a mistrial Friday (local time) in the case of Lindsay Clancy, 36, who was indicted on charges of killing her three children, according to the Associated Press and other outlets.

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for seven days but failed to reach a unanimous verdict. The panel told the court it could not reach a unanimous decision and would not be able to do so going forward.

Clancy was indicted on charges of strangling her three children — then aged 5, 3, and 8 months — at the family's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. The crux of the trial was whether Clancy had the capacity to understand or control her actions at the time. Postpartum psychosis is a rare but severe psychiatric condition that can emerge after childbirth and may involve hallucinations and auditory delusions.

Prosecutors argued the killings were premeditated, saying Clancy had sent her husband out of the house on an errand — to buy medicine for the children and pick up dinner — before carrying out the attacks. The defense countered that her mental health had deteriorated sharply after the birth of her youngest child and that she was in a psychotic state at the time, hearing a male voice commanding her to kill the children.

Both sides called medical experts to the stand over roughly six weeks to contest Clancy's mental state and criminal culpability at the time of the killings. Ultimately, the jury could not reach a consensus. Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry the case with a new jury. They said they would not make that decision immediately.

The case drew widespread attention in the United States. During the trial, hundreds of women who said they had experienced postpartum depression and anxiety gathered outside the courthouse holding signs reading "She needed help" in a show of support for Clancy. Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, has also said he forgives her and believes the killings stemmed from mental illness.

President Donald Trump, asked about the case Friday (local time), said he had been unable to avoid following it. "It's been on TV so much, I couldn't help but watch," he said. "She did a terrible thing. Clancy will pay some price — whether it's a mental institution, prison, or something."