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Defense attorney Kevin Reddington told Judge William Sullivan that a note from the jury foreperson indicated one juror “refuses to listen to the law that you’ve given him or her on reasonable doubt,” prompting the lawyer to request the juror’s removal and replacement with an alternate. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued that the judge’s individual questioning of each juror about their ability to follow the law was appropriate and that there was no way to determine which side was correct during deliberations. The exchange occurred after the jury had already sent previous notes indicating it could not reach a unanimous verdict, according to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press.
Reddington objected to the judge’s handling of the matter and warned that failure to remove the juror could result in a mistrial, stating it would be “a real shame” if the case collapsed because one juror had spurned the court’s instructions. The Boston Globe reported that several legal experts and a retired superior court judge described removing a deliberating juror on such grounds as extremely rare, with one former judge saying he had never seen it done in his career. CNN legal analyst Robert Hirschhorn told the network he did not believe the holdout juror would be dismissed.
Judge Sullivan questioned each of the 12 jurors individually at sidebar to confirm whether they could follow his instructions before re-reading the legal standard for reasonable doubt to the full panel and directing them to continue deliberations. “I don’t feel that it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” Sullivan said, according to accounts from The New York Times and Court TV. The jury was sent home for the day after roughly 36 hours of total deliberation time without a verdict and will return Friday for a seventh day.
Clancy stands accused of strangling her three children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, at the family home in Duxbury in January 2023 while her husband was out running errands. The 34-year-old former physical therapist has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her attorneys arguing she was experiencing a severe mental health crisis linked to postpartum conditions at the time of the killings. Prosecutors have maintained the acts were premeditated, a position detailed across coverage by AP News and Reuters that has kept the case in national headlines for more than three years.
Legal experts consulted by the Boston Globe and CNN emphasized that judges must exercise caution before intervening in jury deliberations, as doing so risks appearing to favor one position over another on the evidence or law. A former federal prosecutor told CNN that Sullivan made the correct decision by polling the jurors and reinforcing the instructions rather than dismissing anyone. The case highlights challenges in insanity defense trials, where juries often struggle to reconcile psychiatric testimony with the legal standard for criminal responsibility.
The jury first signaled deadlock on Tuesday, its fourth day of deliberations following the start on August 27, and sent additional notes on Wednesday before Thursday’s note introduced the specific complaint about one juror’s approach to reasonable doubt. If the panel remains deadlocked, a mistrial could be declared, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to pursue a retrial that would likely stretch into 2027. Reddington told reporters outside court that the judge planned further inquiry into the holdout juror when proceedings resume.
