Hung Jury Wasn't Enough: Judge Clears Way For Lindsay Clancy's Retrial In Kids' Deaths

What happened in the Duxbury home

On the evening of January 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy, then 34, strangled her three children with exercise bands inside the family's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, according to prosecutors. The children were Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months old.

After the killings, Clancy jumped from a second-story bedroom window in an attempt to take her own life. The fall left her paralyzed from the chest down, and she has been held at Tewksbury Hospital since shortly after the deaths, under what her attorney has described as 24-hour suicide watch.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, has never disputed that she killed her children. Her defense has instead centered on her mental state at the time — attorney Kevin Reddington has argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was acting on auditory hallucinations, compelled to act in a way she could not control. Prosecutors have countered that she was aware of her actions, understood they were wrong, and planned the killings in advance.

A five-week trial ends in deadlock

Clancy's trial ran roughly five weeks over the summer of 2026 and drew more than 80 witnesses, including her ex-husband Patrick Clancy, multiple psychologists and a psychiatrist, and friends and relatives who testified in her defense. Clancy did not testify.

The 12-person jury deadlocked three times. Jurors later reported an 11-1 split, with all but one member leaning toward finding Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. During deliberations, the jury foreperson, Roni Carlson, sent the court two notes indicating one juror was not following the law on reasonable doubt. Carlson later told NBC10 that the holdout "admitted he had reasonable doubt," and she had begun filling out the paperwork for a verdict — "I wrote my signature on each one" — before he reversed himself, saying he still wouldn't find her not guilty by reason of insanity.

Judge William Sullivan brought the jurors into the courtroom, reminded them of their duty to apply the law, and asked each one individually whether they could do so; all said yes. He declared a mistrial on September 4, 2026, after the panel remained deadlocked. The holdout juror, Michael Péguy Desronvil, said afterward that he "didn't have any doubts" and that, based on the physical evidence and the prosecution's case, "I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned."

"Because the court concludes that there was manifest necessity for a mistrial based on the jury's deadlock, a retrial on the murder indictments does not violate Clancy's right not to be placed in double jeopardy." — Judge William Sullivan

The fight over trying her again

Clancy returned to Plymouth Superior Court on November 2, 2026, where her attorneys asked Judge Sullivan to dismiss the murder charges outright, arguing that a second trial would violate her constitutional protection against double jeopardy. Defense attorney Martin G. Weinberg argued that Sullivan should have questioned the holdout juror more directly before declaring a mistrial — a step Weinberg said could have led to the juror's removal and allowed deliberations to continue, avoiding the deadlock altogether.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague pushed back, telling the court that further questioning of the juror would have required probing the substance of jury deliberations and risked judicial coercion. "It is clear from the record that this juror did not refuse to deliberate," she said. "He refused to agree."

The hearing also turned contentious when Reddington sought to name the holdout juror in open court and request his phone records and jury questionnaire, alleging he had been dishonest in his answers and had improperly researched the legal concept of altruistic filicide during deliberations. Sullivan interrupted him, saying there was no need to use the juror's name; Reddington responded, "No, you're not going to stop me," and later said of the juror's media appearances, "He's got more face-time than I do." An attorney representing the juror, Heather O'Connor, told the court he had not violated any rules and warned that granting the defense's request would send a "dangerous message" to future jurors.

On Monday, November 2, Judge Sullivan denied the defense's motion to dismiss, writing that the jury's deadlock created manifest necessity for the mistrial and that a retrial does not violate Clancy's double jeopardy rights. He also previously rejected a separate defense request for a not guilty finding based on insufficient evidence, and denied a request to investigate the holdout juror. Those rulings leave the murder charges in place and clear the legal path for a second trial.

What each side has said

Prosecutors have made clear in court filings that they intend to press on. In a motion seeking to defeat the dismissal bid, the Plymouth County district attorney's office wrote that double jeopardy "does not bar the commonwealth from seeking justice on behalf of the three victims," and separately said the court should "deny the defendant's motion to dismiss and allow the Commonwealth to continue to pursue justice for Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy."

District Attorney Timothy Cruz, speaking outside court Monday, was noncommittal about next steps: "I'll be talking more on November 16," he told reporters, according to CNN.

Reddington has pushed for speed, telling Judge Sullivan directly: "I am not going to have this woman sit incarcerated for the next year or two or three. I want a trial and I want it with you and I want it this spring." He has separately told NBC News that Clancy remains "on 24/7, one-on-one suicide watch," adding, "She's strong. She has incredible family support. But she is suicidal. I mean, I worry about her every day."

Outside the criminal case, Patrick Clancy has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his ex-wife's former healthcare providers, alleging inadequate care and prescription medication contributed to the killings. His attorneys have separately condemned online theories suggesting he was involved in his children's deaths, calling them a "campaign of misinformation" and saying "law enforcement has been notified." Reddington told NBC News that Clancy herself rejects those theories: "She knows and it's readily apparent that Patrick has been set upon and his life has been turned upside down into a nightmare that he doesn't deserve. Period. Full stop."

What a conviction or retrial would mean

Clancy faces three counts stemming from first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Cora, Dawson and Callan. If convicted as charged, she could face life in prison. If a jury instead finds she was not criminally responsible for her actions due to mental illness — the standard her defense is pursuing — the court would likely begin proceedings to commit her to a psychiatric hospital rather than prison.

Prosecutors have several paths available beyond retrying the original first-degree murder charges: they could pursue lesser charges such as manslaughter, or in theory negotiate a plea deal, though the DA's office has given no public indication it's considering either. Defense attorneys asked the judge Monday to consider reduced charges as an alternative to dismissal, which could open the door to a bench trial — a trial decided by a judge rather than a jury — instead of a second jury trial.

Criminal defense attorney Keith Halpern, who is not involved in the case, told WBUR he expects the Commonwealth to retry Clancy regardless of which charges it ultimately pursues: "You don't write words like that if you're not thinking that you're going to have a retrial. I don't think there was ever any question that they were gonna retry this case in one form or another."

What happens next

Judge William Sullivan has scheduled a status hearing for November 16, 2026, where he's expected to set a formal retrial date and rule on remaining motions, including a prosecution request for a gag order on attorneys and the defense's bid to access the holdout juror's questionnaire and phone records. Sullivan has said he'd like the retrial to begin in March 2027, though he faces mandatory retirement in June of that year, which could force a new judge onto the case if the trial slips. Prosecutors have not yet said whether they'll retry Clancy on the original first-degree murder charges or pursue lesser counts.