PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Judge William F. Sullivan formally declared a mistrial Friday afternoon, Sept. 4, 2026, in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied a last-ditch defense bid to pause the ruling, the Boston Globe and Boston 25 News reported from the courthouse.

At about 2:20 p.m. ET, Sullivan told the courtroom that SJC Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt had denied the emergency stay. He rejected a further defense request to remove an apparent holdout juror, brought the panel back in, declared the mistrial, thanked the jurors for bracing “for that duty,” and discharged them. A status hearing is set for Sept. 29, when Sullivan will hear a defense motion for a directed finding of not guilty and — if that fails — address scheduling for any new trial.

The collapse followed a seventh day of deliberations and a third deadlock note. Earlier Friday, Sullivan said he felt he had “no choice” but to declare a mistrial, then gave defense attorney Kevin Reddington one hour to seek a stay from a single SJC justice. Reddington’s team argued the foreperson’s note showed an 11–1 split and that one juror was refusing to apply reasonable-doubt instructions — a claim prosecutors framed as ordinary disagreement over how to weigh evidence. Wendlandt held a short Zoom hearing, took the motion under advisement, then denied relief.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, is charged with killing her children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — in January 2023. She has pleaded not guilty and asserts lack of criminal responsibility tied to postpartum psychosis; she remains paralyzed from the waist down and appears in a wheelchair. A mistrial is not an acquittal. Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz now decides whether to retry her, pursue lesser charges, negotiate a plea, or drop the case. “He drives the bus,” Reddington has said of the DA’s role. For the afternoon SJC hearing that preceded this ruling, see our under-advisement update.

Sources