A judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three young children.
The mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved and allows prosecutors to take the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse to trial again.
The deliberations took a dramatic turn late in the week when the judge said he was going to declare a mistrial Friday before suddenly changing course and giving her defense attorney a chance to appeal to the top court in Massachusetts. But the court denied the emergency appeal to stop the judge from declaring a mistrial.
The trial has generated intense interest for more than a month, deeply dividing the public and drawing attention to issues around maternal mental health after childbirth. Clancy's attorney said she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids -- the youngest just 8 months old -- and then tried to take her own life.
Prosecutors, who said Clancy knew what she was doing, now must decide whether to put Clancy on trial again, drop the charges, or try to negotiate a plea deal with her lawyer.
