What happens next after Lindsay Clancy judge declares mistrial

The judge in Lindsay Clancy’s murder case declared a mistrial Friday after deadlocked jurors failed to reach a verdict despite seven days of deliberations.Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility due to postpartum psychosis after strangling her three young children.One holdout juror is believed to be the reason for the mistrial. When a jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict required for a conviction or acquittal, the judge declares a mistrial, forcing prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case, offer a plea deal, or drop the charges.Lindsay Clancy in court on Friday as the judge declared a mistrial (Reuters)The Plymouth County District Attorney said immediately after the mistrial that he’ll decide at a later date whether to retry Clancy, stating, “I’ll be meeting with our team and we will address this case further at the appropriate time in the context of an official court proceeding. So you will not get an answer on that question today.”Lindsay Clancy could go back on trial but prosecutors have optionsIf prosecutors decide to try the case again, the jury selection process would commence and a new trial would be scheduled with a new jury.Prosecutors could also offer a plea deal to Clancy, said Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case.“Any time the threat of a retrial with murder one hanging over the client is re-interjected, defense lawyers will, at the very least, explore whether or not there’s any interest in a resolution,” Bailey said.Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her children at their home south of Boston but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. After the killings, her husband found her badly injured in the yard, where she landed after jumping from a second-story window. She was left paralyzed from the waist down. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing.Though less likely, the district attorney’s office could decide to not retry the case.“Sometimes they decide not to, because of the sense that there may be the same result each time they try it, and because of the expenditures involved in trying the case to begin with, particularly when you have expert witnesses,” he said. “Those are going to be expensive cases.”Lindsay Clancy's defense will likely push to drop the chargesBailey expects Clancy’s defense attorney to aggressively lobby against another trial, making a case to the district attorney’s office along the lines of: “‘Why are you doing this to this poor woman? She’s still clearly obviously suffering. She’s been punished with her paralysis and, worse than that, the loss of her three children.’”A conviction could mean life in prison for Clancy, while an acquittal might lead to confinement in a mental health facility.The Plymouth County District Attorney said immediately after the mistrial that he’ll decide at a later date whether to retry Clancy (AFP/Getty)Karen Read was another high-profile mistrial in Massachusetts Karen Read was charged in the 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend. Jurors in her 2024 trial deadlocked on the fifth day of deliberations, leading to a mistrial. Prosecutors chose to retry the case, but a different jury last year found Read not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Like Read's case, Clancy's has drawn a divided public reaction. Clancy's livestreamed trial drew attention to maternal mental health after childbirth and was closely watched by a polarized public. Clancy’s sympathizers saw her as a loving mom who had realized something was badly wrong in the months ahead of the killings and sought help, including checking herself in to a psychiatric hospital. Her detractors said she deserved to be punished for an evil and selfish act.