Judge addresses arrest of woman for juror intimidation outside Plymouth courthouse where Lindsay Clancy faces trial

A Massachusetts woman was arrested by Massachusetts State Police and charged with intimidation for her actions outside the courthouse where Lindsay Clancy faced trial for the murder of her three children. Dawn Light, 56, of Sutton, MA, was charged with one count of intimidation of a witness, jurors, or person furnishing information in connection with criminal proceedings, The Patriot Ledger reports.

Judge Sullivan addressed the incident as the court convened on Wednesday morning. "Before we get going," he said, "I just want to make one comment, without an editorial comment. I just want to remind everybody here and elsehwere that there's been an order that's been issued in regards to the conducting of this case, we well as statutes, in this Commonwealth, which relate to jurors, witnesses, attorneys and others in regards to this proceeding. And everybody should be well aware that that order and that statute is being enforced and will be enforced. So I just kinda wanted to put that out there with no follow-up or editorial comment."

Light was arrested around 3:40 pm on Tuesday outside Plymouth Superior Court. The jury had been released for the day just minutes before, after telling Judge Sullivan earlier in the day that they had reached an impasse and could not come to a verdict. They also requested to be released at 3:30 pm and the judge obliged. The jury has not been sequestered.

While the trial has been televised, there has been no photography of jurors. However, reporting from inside the courtroom on Tuesday revealed that two women on the 9 woman, 3 man jury were smiling at each other as the judge read out their note that they could not come to a unanimous decision as to Clancy's guilt.

Police were not explicit as to what led to Light's arrest and they did not confirm that it was connected to the case. However, reports indicate that she may have been photographing or filming jurors outside the courthouse. Others say she may have been yelling things at them. The incident took place in the courthouse's back parking lot, which is off limits. 

The jury is back in court on Wednesday morning and returned to their deliberations. The judge has explicitly and repeatedly told jurors not to read or watch anything about the case and to not talk about the case with anyone. 

The case has gained national and international attention with countless articles, news segments, and podcast episodes dedicated to trying to understand not just how a woman could murder her three young children under 5-years-old, but how she could have garnered so much support among mothers and women.

Both online and outside the courthouse, women have gathered wearing pink to show that they believe Clancy, who admitted to killing her children, should be found not guilty due to reason of insanity. Clancy and her attorney Kevin Reddington have claimed that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.