Update, afternoon Sept. 4: SJC Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt held a Zoom hearing on the defense emergency stay and took the motion under advisement. Read the latest.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Judge William F. Sullivan said Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, that he will declare a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial after the jury reported it was deadlocked for a third time — then held off formally dismissing the panel for one hour so defense attorney Kevin Reddington can seek an emergency stay from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, NBC News, the Guardian, and the Boston Globe reported.

“I’m going to declare a mistrial at this point,” Sullivan told the court after jurors returned a third note saying they could not agree, according to NBC News. The note, read in court, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to,” the Guardian reported. Jurors had deliberated across seven days — nearly 40 hours by the Guardian’s count — after a roughly six-week trial.

Under Massachusetts practice, after two prior deadlock notes earlier in the week Sullivan had already delivered a Tuey-Rodriguez charge asking the panel to keep trying. A third “hopeless” deadlock left him with little room to force more work without juror consent. Reddington asked Sullivan to hold the formal mistrial and take an emergency appeal aimed at the apparent holdout juror who, the defense says, will not apply reasonable doubt. “I believe that this is a situation where there is a clear and present danger that this individual, for some reason … is taking a position that’s intractable regardless of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Reddington said, per the Guardian. Sullivan granted him one hour to file for a stay before calling the jury back to dismiss them if the stay fails. NBC reported Sullivan also seemed resistant to bringing the jury back on Saturday even if an appeal succeeded.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangling deaths of her children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — in their Duxbury home. She has pleaded not guilty and asserts she was not criminally responsible because of postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors argue the killings were planned and deliberate. For Friday morning’s holdout fight and “brass band” exchange, see our day-7 courtroom update.

If the formal mistrial stands after the hour window, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz’s office would decide whether to retry the case. This piece will be updated if the Supreme Judicial Court issues a stay or Sullivan dismisses the jury.

Sources