It was a announced decision, although it was postponed again for a while. “I have no choice but to declare the trial null,” declared Judge William Sullivan this Thursday, who presides over the trial against Lindsay Clancy in the Plymouth (Massachusetts) court, the mother accused of killing her three children but who pleaded not guilty due to suffering postpartum trauma, has caused a division in the jury and in the conscience of the United States.
In a new twist, and once the prosecutor agreed with the magistrate’s decision after a third consecutive note from the jury in three days in which they repeated that they could not reach a unanimous verdict, the defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, surprised by requesting that the jury be sent back to deliberate. The lawyer considered that there is only one juror blocking the decision and, as he did on Thursday, this Friday he insisted that this member be replaced, which the judge opposed.
However, once the magistrate said he had no choice but to declare the trial null, he gave a margin of one hour for Reddington to request an emergency suspension “before declaring a null trial” and to file an appeal. The judge gave him one hour, not accepting that the jury be convened again this Saturday or Tuesday, because Monday is a holiday in the U.S.
By emergency means, the defense had that time to get a higher court to accept his request and force the jury to continue deliberating after almost 40 hours in which its members have been unable to reach an agreement on whether Clancy is guilty of a triple murder, involuntary manslaughter, or is innocent because she cannot be charged due to her mental state.
Read more Russia attacks the headquarters of the Ukrainian security service with Illa in an adjacent building
This horrible crime has split the country between those who believe there can be no forgiveness for someone who has committed such brutality and those who consider that this nurse by profession asked for help for the trauma she suffered and never received care.
Clancy accepted responsibility for the acts, although she pleaded not guilty to the death of her three children — Cora, 5 years old; Dawson, 3 years old; and Callan, 8 months old — at her home in Duxbury on January 24, 2023. Everything happened while her husband had gone out to pick up prepared food.
The accused made this declaration of innocence due to suffering that postpartum trauma, which nullified her faculties. After killing her children by strangulation with a gym elastic band, she took pills, cut herself with a knife, and threw herself from the second floor of her house. She was left paralyzed and uses a wheelchair.
Read more Judge Calama rejects the nullity of the Plus Ultra case raised by Zapatero
