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Jury in Lindsay Clancy trial ends second day of deliberations without a verdict

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The Associated Press

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Lindsay Clancy watches jurors enter the courtroom for their second day of deliberations as defence attorney Kevin Reddington sits to her right at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Warning: Graphic content

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial ended a second day of deliberations on Friday without a verdict in the case of the Massachusetts woman charged with killing her three children in 2023.

Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her children, but her lawyer said she did it because she had lost her grip on reality due to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth. In the months before the killings, Clancy sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing. They say she strangled the children because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to kill them before attempting suicide.

The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon and met again Friday, asking at one point to take a look at a knife that Clancy used to cut herself and bags with empty prescription pill bottles found in her house.

1. Second-degree murder: This carries a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. To be convicted on this charge, the killings must have been deliberate but not planned. 2. Manslaughter: This carries a sentence of up to 20 years in state prison. It is defined as an unlawful killing without intent to cause harm. 3. Not guilty: The jury could also conclude that Clancy killed the children but lacked criminal responsibility due to a mental disease or defect. This is known as the insanity defense.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington makes his closing arguments to the jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) Defence attorney Kevin Reddington makes his closing arguments to the jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Jurors are expected to return to the courthouse Monday. Members of the panel could find her guilty of murder or the lesser crime of manslaughter, or acquit her if they decide she wasn’t in control of herself due to her psychiatric problems.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. She did not testify during the trial, but jurors heard at length from medical professionals who treated her, as well as from friends and relatives she had told about her mental health problems.

Jurors also heard from medical experts called by prosecutors and the defence who disagreed about her likely state of mind when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages five, three and eight months, at their Massachusetts home.

The killings happened less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She cut herself before jumping from a second-floor window after strangling the children. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Michael Casey, The Associated Press

If you or someone you know is in crisis or struggling with mental illness, here are some resources that are available.

Canada Suicide Crisis Helpline (Call or text 988 or visit 988.ca)

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (1-800-463-2338)

Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868)

If you need immediate assistance call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.