The trial of Lindsay Clancy, the 36-year-old mom of three on trial in Massachusetts for killing her three young children, has captivated social media.
In a huge update on September 4, 2026, Judge Sullivan has declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked, 11-1, for three days in a row. However, it was not without fraught argument in the court, as the defense argued that one of the jurors "reflects a bias against those who suffer from debilitating mental illness." The Judge refused to relieve the juror from the trial.
The trial began on July 20, 2026.
© Lindsay ClancyWhat is Lindsay Clancy accused of?
Lindsay is accused of killing her three young children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months – on January 24, 2023.
After killing the children using exercise bands, the former labor and delivery nurse attempted to kill herself. She jumped out of the second story of her Duxbury, Massachusetts home. She is paralyzed from the waist down and now uses a wheelchair.
Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, was running errands at the time of the murders at the request of Lindsay. He returned home and found Lindsay in the front yard before calling 911 and finding his children in the basement.
© Boston Globe via Getty ImagesLindsay has not disputed the charges, but the defence is arguing that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
In the days and weeks after the incident, she told her then-husband in a letter that she was 'horrified." and claimed she had been hearing a voice persistently telling her to kill herself and the children.
Recent update on Lindsay Clancy
© POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesOn September 4, the Judge declared a mistrial. Judge Sullivan read the jury foreperson’s note aloud in open court: "It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to."
It came after arguments in court, during which Lindsay's lawyers insisted "the court has the ability to send the jury back.""
"I don’t feel I have any choice but to declare a mistrial at this time," said Judge Sullivan in response.
© POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesWhat happens next?
The judge set a hearing for Sept. 29 at which Lindsay's lawyer, Mr Reddington, is likely to ask the Judge to declare Lindsay not guilty, a rare step but one that is allowed under state law.
Why was the emergency appeal denied?
The defence was given an hour before the declaration was made to file an emergency request for relief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The defence believed that one of the jurors "reflects a bias against those who suffer from debilitating mental illness."
© POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesThe filing said that the judge "need not simply accept the juror’s professions of fidelity and impartiality," but rather can determine whether the juror is credible in light of the other jurors’ statements.
"I have never seen a situation like this where a foreperson on the jury is so courageous as to speak on behalf of 11 jurors and indicate that a juror, number which I will not mention, and I quote, 'has made statements acknowledging doubt but refuses to apply it to the verdict,'" Reddington said.
Why is the Lindsay Clancy case controversial?
The case has become a conversation around the lack of care for women postpartum, and the failure to educate women and healthcare professionals.
© Boston Globe via Getty ImagesLindsay had been struggling with mental health, misdiagnoses, and overmedication after the births of her three children. In 2022, she was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications across different providers.
She was admitted to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility, on December 31, 2022 after reporting thoughts of suicide and intrusive thoughts of hurting her children.
She was released after five days, and on January 24 killed her three children.
© AFP via Getty Images"This is a woman that did not get the medication, did not get the medical treatment that se so deserved," Kevin said in court, explaining that Lindsay called a suicide hotline, went to an emergency room, and even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for several days.
Her ex-husband, mother, and sister have all spoken on the stand about Lindsay's changing behaviors, her attempts to get help as well as her conversations around suicide ideation.
She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis.
What is postpartum psychosis?
Postpartum psychosis, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is a mental health emergency that affects a person's sense of reality, causing hallucinations, delusions, or paranoia.
It's incredibly rare, affecting between 0.089 and 2.6 out of every 1,000 births, happening between 320 and 9,400 births each year in the United States.
What is the prosecution's argument?
© Boston Globe via Getty ImagesProsecutor Shanan Buckingham argues that Lindsay was of sound mind when she planned and murdered her children and has urged jurors not to view the trial as "a public debate about women's mental health and how the medical system treats women," but rather to focus on the specific actions Lindsay took and the intent behind them.
"This was not a woman in the throes of psychosis on January 24, 2023," said Buckingham during opening arguments. "This was a woman who acted intentionally, rationally, and swiftly to accomplish a very specific goal—to kill."
The internet's role in the Lindsay Clancy case
© AFP via Getty ImagesLindsay's case has taken over the internet, with thousands of takes flooding social media.
The defense requested that Emily Thorndike – a licensed independent clinical social worker who made a viral TikTok about her own experience working at McLean Hospital, where Lindsay was briefly committed in December 2022 – be allowed to take the stand.
During her 10-minute viral video, Emily claimed that the prosecutors on the case misrepresented the level of care at McLean while questioning PatrDefence lawyer Kevin Reddington argues that Emily could provide relevant testimony about the hospital. The judge denied the request.
