Stay abreast of the most recent developments in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.

A judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial declared a mistrial on Friday after the jury could not agree on a verdict in a case that deeply divided American opinion over whether the Massachusetts woman should face criminal responsibility for killing her three young children.

The trial commanded sustained public fascination for weeks, casting a spotlight on maternal mental health in the postpartum period.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, never disputed that she killed the children.

However, her attorney argued that she was suffering from a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids — the youngest just 8 months old — and then tried to take her own life in 2023.

Prosecutors said Clancy was fully aware of what she was doing.

Friday’s mistrial, reached on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved.

Ultimately, the outcome appeared to catch no one in the courtroom off guard.

Neither Clancy nor her family displayed any visible emotion as the judge declared that the proceedings had concluded without a verdict.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains discussions of suicide.

Should you or someone you know require assistance, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. can be reached by dialing or texting 988.

Clancy remains charged with murder and is expected to remain in a psychiatric facility until the resolution of her case.

Her lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said he believes she would have been acquitted if not for a juror who was the subject of a dispute over whether the judge’s instructions were being followed.

Reddington stated that Clancy was “not good” when a journalist inquired about her condition following the mistrial.

Her parents and her sister were escorted from the courthouse by state police, offering no comment to reporters.

Ex-husband Patrick Clancy, the trial’s first witness, has stated in prior interviews that he forgives her and believes her actions stemmed from mental illness.

A statement released by his attorney on Friday said that "the prospect of reliving this tragedy through another trial is extraordinarily painful."

The prosecutor who chose to charge Clancy stated that a decision on a second trial would not be made immediately, and that public opinion would not influence the process.

"This has always been, and continues to be, about securing justice for those three infants," said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz.

"This case is not about the healthcare system, how women are treated within it, or what diagnoses may exist."

He noted that the two prosecutors leading the trial were “both mothers themselves.”

The deliberations took a dramatic turn on Friday when the judge said he would declare a mistrial, only to change his mind and allow Clancy's attorney to appeal that decision to Massachusetts' highest court.

However, the court refused to stop the judge from declaring a mistrial.

Clancy's attorneys argued that one of the jurors had shown a possible bias against people with mental illness, without going into detail.

They maintained that the juror should, at the very least, have been questioned more thoroughly by the judge, or even removed entirely before a mistrial was declared.

Prosecutors alleged that Clancy deliberately strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy with exercise bands.

They also claimed she had arranged for her husband to leave the house on Jan. 24, 2023, by asking him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

Clancy's lawyer argued that she should not be held criminally responsible due to her postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness caused by the stress, sleep deprivation, and hormonal changes that occur after childbirth.

On three separate occasions, the jurors reported their inability to reach a unanimous verdict.

The foreperson informed the judge on Thursday that one juror refused to adhere to the court’s directives concerning reasonable doubt.

Outside the courthouse on Friday, Reddington launched a scathing attack on the juror he believes obstructed the delivery of a verdict.

"They (the jury) understand that one man, whatever his reasons, took seven weeks from the lives of those other jurors—who were so attentive, so admirable, so wonderful," he said.

The jury's division was unclear, as was its inclination toward conviction or acquittal.

A murder conviction could have led to life imprisonment for Clancy, whereas an acquittal might have resulted in the judge ordering her confinement to a mental health facility.

The judge ruled that the jurors' identities remain protected for a minimum of 14 days, citing the case's capacity to provoke substantial and polarizing public interest.

Millions across the United States tuned in to the livestreamed proceedings, and even President Donald Trump acknowledged that he had been keeping abreast of the coverage.

This is an extremely serious situation.

"She has committed a truly terrible act," Trump said on Friday.

"It cannot get any worse.

But you will find out what the price will be.

There will be a price — whether it's a mental institution, jail, or something similar."

On most days, women supporting Clancy and dressed in pink would attend the trial.

Many of them recounted their own postpartum narratives or distressing encounters with the healthcare system.

On Friday, one of those women, Marta Quijano, a 55-year-old surgeon, expressed that the mistrial left her “very sad for the family, for Lindsay.”

"I don't think she should have to endure this again. It should have been settled already," Quinjano said, beginning to cry.

"It's very unfair. I feel that as women, we are treated very unfairly. We get dismissed, and our experiences are minimized.

Even what happened today, I think one person failed her."

The judge acknowledged early in the deliberations that the trial had taken a severe emotional and physical toll on everyone involved.

Much of the testimony was painful to hear, from the heartbreaking 911 call made by the children's father, who found their bodies, to the detailed descriptions of how they died.

Clancy was moved to tears several times.

At one point, the judge called a brief recess as Clancy's loud sobs filled the courtroom while the children's autopsy photos were shown.

Over the course of 21 days of testimony, jurors learned how Clancy’s mental health deteriorated in the aftermath of Callan’s birth.

Plagued by acute anxiety, sleeplessness, and what she termed a troubling mental haze, Clancy turned to specialists in postpartum mood disorders, who put her on a course of several psychiatric drugs.

Clancy’s family members testified that she voiced apprehension over her deteriorating condition.

Her former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, described her as a devoted and affectionate parent who was “pleading for assistance.”

In early 2023, Clancy admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital, but her stay was brief.

Only 19 days after being discharged, she killed her children and left their bodies in the basement of their home south of Boston.

She then jumped from a second-story window and has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since.

Prosecutors conceded that Clancy had severe mental illness, but insisted she was able to understand and control her actions.

They emphasized that although she claimed to have heard a male voice commanding her to kill the children, she never disclosed that to her mental health providers before the killings.

Reporters Rodrique Ngowi in Plymouth, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Philip Marcelo in New York, Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.