Jurors Blame Lone Holdout for Mistrial in Lindsay Clancy Case

Boston – After six weeks of testimony, a Massachusetts jury could not reach a unanimous decision in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of strangling her three children in a Duxbury basement in January 2023. Judge William Sullivan formally declared a mistrial on Friday, citing a deadlock among the twelve jurors.

Three of those jurors, including the foreperson Roni Carlson, broke their silence in a televised interview on NBC10. They expressed palpable frustration, saying a single holdout juror – a man who refused to change his vote despite acknowledging “reasonable doubt” – kept the panel from delivering a not‑guilty‑by‑insanity verdict.

"He admitted he had reasonable doubt, and I was already filling out the paperwork. I was so excited," Carlson recalled, then added that the man stubbornly replied, "I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity." Another juror, Paula Devlin, described the holdout as “very arrogant,” insisting he ignored everything anyone else said.

The defense, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, argued that Clancy suffered a psychotic episode and therefore lacked criminal responsibility under Massachusetts law. She had, they said, confessed to the killings, but the question was whether she knew right from wrong at the moment. "She did kill them and she’s admitting that," Carlson said. "Everything – her journals, her mother‑in‑law’s testimony – shows she loved her kids. She must have snapped."

Prosecutors have not yet indicated whether they will retry the case. If convicted of first‑degree murder, Clancy faces life without parole. If a jury had found her not‑guilty‑by‑insanity, she would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital, with periodic court reviews.

Clancy remains in custody at a state hospital. The unnamed holdout juror could not be reached for comment, and the identities of all jurors stay sealed.