Judge Issues Ruling in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial

A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy in her trial for the murder of her three young children, after seven days of deliberations.

The defense argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for her actions. Clancy said she heard a voice telling her to kill her children.

State prosecutors alleged she committed a premeditated murder and, despite mental illness, was aware of what she was doing.

Proesecutors presented the jury with the options of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter.

Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan had pressed the jury to make a decision.

The jury is made up of nine women and three men.

Clancy used exercise bands to strangle her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in the basement of her home. Afterward, she unsuccessfully attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.