A mistrial was declared in the trial of Lindsay Clancy this afternoon. Dr. Dershowitz explains why the lawyer is claiming the juror is breaking the law.
This country is toast:
Live with @iCkEdMeL on Lindsey Clancy https://t.co/zRQc98CiQh
— (@TrueCrimeBelieb) September 4, 2026
Michael R. Herron, Esq., a former criminal prosecutor and personal injury lawyer with 30 years of experience, explained what happened in the Lindsay Clancy case this morning.
The Lindsay Clancy trial in Massachusetts took a sharp turn this morning. After a week of deliberations, the jury sent yet another note saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Judge William Sullivan told the courtroom he had no choice but to declare a mistrial. A mistrial in this situation means the whole trial stops with no decision. Clancy is not convicted, and she is not acquitted. The charges stay in place. Prosecutors can later choose to start over with a brand new jury, try to work out a plea, or drop the case.
It is not the same as a not guilty finding that would end the criminal case for good. The jury had already told the judge twice they were stuck. They spent more than thirty-six hours over seven days going through the evidence.
On Thursday, a note came out that one juror was holding everyone else up. The defense said that person acknowledged having doubt but would not apply the reasonable doubt rule the way the law requires.
Remove the juror?
Attorney Kevin Reddington asked the judge to remove that juror so the rest of the panel could keep going. Sullivan said no. He read the note as not proving the juror was refusing to follow the law. This morning, the jury wrote that, with a heavy heart, they were unable to come to a decision and would not be able to. That was the third deadlock.
Sullivan announced the mistrial. Before the jurors could even be brought back into the courtroom to hear it officially, Reddington asked for a short pause. The judge then gave the defense one hour to file an emergency stay with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
The stay would freeze the mistrial declaration while a higher court looks at whether Sullivan should have questioned or replaced the holdout juror.
The defense wants to keep this same jury because they believe eleven people were ready to find Clancy not criminally responsible. A mistrial would let the state try her again from scratch.
This last hour is their attempt to stop that from happening. Clancy is still held at a mental health facility while all of this plays out.
The children were five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. The defense has argued she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis. The state said she knew exactly what she was doing. Now the higher court gets the next move.
Reddington asked the Massachusetts Supreme Court to look at it, and they refused. Lindsey Clancy, who planned and executed the murder of her three children, might escape justice because she claims she was psychotic for eighteen minutes. She said it was the only time that she was psychotic.
“The prosecution has to prove that she was not mentally ill, so we may see changes to the law.”
Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz discussed the implications of a possible mistrial or verdict in the Lindsey Clancy case on Friday’s “National Report.” pic.twitter.com/h6ECpQQiYP
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) September 4, 2026
The moral is that if you say you are a woman who has postpartum psychosis eight months after the baby is born, you can kill your three children.
Clancy is too dangerous to be free again.