Judge excuses Clancy jury for the day, deliberations to resume Monday morning

The jury deliberating the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three kids, wrapped up for the evening around 4 pm on Friday after their first full day of deliberations. The jury was handed the case just after noon on Thursday.

So far in deliberations, the jury has requested to see the knife and pill bottles that had been entered into evidence in the case, making the request on Friday afternoon.

Jurors had been shown during the trial the bloody knife that Clancy had used in an attempt on her life before she jumped out of a window of the home, leaving herself paralyzed. Reddington had held up a bag of empty pill bottles during his closing arguments on Thursday, saying he found them in Clancy’s nightstand. He accused police of not thoroughly investigating and questioned why the bottles weren’t seized for evidence.

The judge on Friday reiterated that the jurors should not discuss the case or view anything related to it over the weekend. The jury will resume its deliberations on Monday morning.

Among the decisions being made by the jury are charges of murder versus charges of manslaughter for the children's killings. The jury must decide whether Clancy was suffering from a “mental disease or defect” at the time of the killings, and whether that rendered Clancy unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions. The jury could find that Clancy is not criminally responsible due to a mental disease, which would lead to Clancy being placed in a state psychiatric hospital.

The jury, if it agrees with the prosecution that Clancy had been in control of her actions at the time of the killings, must weigh verdicts of either first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter for the slaying of each child.

First-degree murder would mean the jury agreed with the prosecution’s case that the killings were premeditated; second-degree would mean the jury agrees that she was responsible for the killings, but they were not premeditated; and manslaughter would mean that Clancy’s actions were “wanton or reckless,” but not a deliberate murder.