The defense lawyer for Lindsay Clancy showed empathy for his client in showcasing her mental health problems. That may have made all the difference.

© Joseph Prezioso/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

After a mistrial, Timothy Cruz must decide whether to retry Lindsay Clancy on first-degree murder charges, downgrade the charges or drop the case.

© Pool photo by Greg Derr

District attorney must decide whether to retry case after jury’s failure to reach verdict despite hours of deliberation

Lindsay Clancy, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the judge and millions watching on are back where they started after her five-week trial over the murder of her three children ended in a mistrial.

America’s saddest case has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over, and a second trial could now be on the horizon, prolonging and repeating an agonizing spectacle that has gripped America and the world.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

Activists are calling on the state attorney general to take action against hospitals that have ended gender-affirming care programs after Trump retook office

A group of trans activists from across Massachusetts brought their needles, hormone gels, pills and sharps containers to Boston on Wednesday to send a message to state attorney general Andrea Campbell.

Organizers with the youth-led group Protect Trans Futures (PTF) took their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the lobby of her office building, then occupied the space, refusing to leave without a commitment to protect civil rights for trans kids.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Alexa B Wilkinson/courtesy of Gender Liberation Movement

© Photograph: Alexa B Wilkinson/courtesy of Gender Liberation Movement

© Photograph: Alexa B Wilkinson/courtesy of Gender Liberation Movement

Even as a jury failed to reach a verdict in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, her future is unlikely to include freedom, at least for a long time. But Americans have been divided over the goal of her confinement.

© Pool photo by Greg Derr

The weeks-long murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of fatally strangling her three children, has ended in a mistrial. As the public now waits for what will happen next, the Guardian's breaking news reporter Maya Yang looks at some of what happened in court during 'America's saddest murder trial'

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

Massachusetts mother accused of fatally strangling her children faces possibility of retrial after judge declares mistrial

• Full report: Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case

• Clancy judge declares mistrial – what happens next?

The trial of Lindsay Clancy that gripped headlines in recent weeks, drawing renewed attention to the state of maternal mental healthcare in the US and postpartum psychosis, has ended with a mistrial.

This now leaves Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of fatally strangling her three children in January 2023 who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, open to the possibility of a retrial with a different jury.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

The case essentially goes back to the same status as before the trial began, and prosecutors have to decide whether to try again

• Full report: Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

A Massachusetts jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of murdering her three children, and a mistrial has been declared by Judge William Sullivan.

The 12-person jury was made up of nine women and three men and, according to the notes given to the court, was split 11 to one.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

Defense lawyer had asked for time to request emergency stay after jury was split 11 to one

• Lindsay Clancy murder trial: live updates

The judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, has declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations.

Jurors in Plymouth state court spent more than 38 hours in deliberations over the charges against the 36-year-old mom, which came on the heels of a weeks-long trial that directed national attention to maternal mental health issues that can occur postpartum.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

This blog is now closed. You can find more of our reporting on the mistrial of Massachusetts mother who killed her three children here:

• Full report: Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy case

• Explained: Lindsay Clancy mistrial – what happens next?

• Five key moments from ‘America’s saddest murder trial’

If you’re just joining us, the judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, plans to declare a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations.

Jurors in Plymouth state court spent more than 38 hours in deliberations over the charges against the 36-year-old mom, which came on the heels of a weeks-long trial that directed national attention to maternal mental health issues that can occur postpartum.

Closing arguments ended last Thursday in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who admitted killing her three young children – Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months – in January 2023. Her attempt to kill herself after killing the children left her with spinal injuries that paralyzed her from the waist down. Clancy pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder due to lack of criminal responsibility, also known as an insanity defense. She faced life in prison if convicted. The tragic case has sparked a national conversation about the state of postpartum mental healthcare in the United States.

The charges up for consideration were first-degree murder, which involves “deliberate premeditation” or “extreme atrocity or cruelty” and is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole, or second-degree murder, without either of those conditions, punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole. They also considered lesser manslaughter charges, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. If they had found Clancy not guilty, she could have spent the rest of her life in hospital, with the eventual possibility of release at a later time if the court determined she was not a danger to others.

Jurors began deliberating last Thursday on whether to accept her insanity defense, but, almost 40 hours on, they have now declared three times that they could not reach a unanimous decision. A jury note indicated that jurors were split 11-1 toward an acquittal but a holdout juror “has acknowledged doubt but refuses to apply it to the verdict”. The prosecution argued this indicated a disagreement among jurors over how to weigh the evidence, while the defense argued the juror had “lied” when they swore to the judge to properly follow the law. But the judge ultimately declined to question the juror further or have them removed.

After the jury declared today that, “with a heavy heart”, it still cannot “and will not be able to” reach a verdict, the judge said he intends to declare a mistrial. That has now been thrown into limbo after the defense asked for an emergency stay from Massachusetts’s highest court. The judge gave him one hour. We’ll bring you the latest as that unfolds.

At the heart of what has been called America’s saddest murder trial is Clancy’s mental health following the birth of her third child. Her defense, led by attorney Kevin Reddington, argued that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible for killing her children because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a devastating condition estimated to affect around two women per 1,000 births. He called Clancy “a darn good mother” and argued that she received “lousy” medical care when she sought help for her deteriorating mental state. She was in “the depths of despair” when she killer her children, he argued, and was compelled to kill them and herself by a persistent male voice during a spell of psychosis.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that Clancy “deliberately and meticulously” killed her children, and acted “intentionally, rationally, and swiftly”. Prosecutors acknowledged Clancy’s mental health struggles but in its closing statement argued that Clancy was a “functioning mom” who knew “right and wrong”. The prosecution pointed to the medical resources and treatment available to her, and also downplayed the severity of Clancy’s suicide attempt. She put a level of planning into the killings that indicates she was not psychotic, they argued.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

Jury starts seven day of deliberations after foreperson told judge juror won’t follow instruction about reasonable doubt

The deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial started a seventh day of deliberations on Friday, a day after the jury’s foreperson told the judge a single juror would not follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt.

The extraordinary disclosure made in the form of a note delivered to the judge offered the clearest glimpse yet of what may be keeping jurors from reaching a verdict on whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three children.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Greg Derr/AFP/Getty Images

The jury has been deadlocked since at least Tuesday on whether to hold Lindsay Clancy legally responsible for the strangling deaths of her three children.

© CJ Gunther/Getty Images

The jury has been deadlocked since at least Tuesday on whether to hold Lindsay Clancy legally responsible for the strangling deaths of her three children.

© CJ Gunther/Getty Images

Deadlocked jurors to return on Friday to see if they can reach a decision after dramatic day of deliberations

• Analysis: how ‘forensic fandom’ threatens postpartum psychosis awareness

The deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Thursday in a dramatic sixth day of deliberations.

Her defense lawyer told the judge that the panel’s foreperson said in a note that a single juror would not follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt and was holding up a verdict.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

The themes present in Lindsay Clancy’s trial are not unfamiliar to Mr. Reddington, a veteran defense lawyer.

© Joseph Prezioso/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In general, juries that have repeatedly reported an impasse are unlikely to reach consensus. But sometimes, those asked by a judge to try harder do return a verdict.

© Pool photo by Greg Derr

The Trump administration wants to bar Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program from paying for gender-transition medication and surgery for transgender adolescents.

© Nathan Frandino/Reuters

Jury to return for more deliberations on Thursday in case of mother accused of murdering her three children

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial was dismissed for the evening on Wednesday without reaching a verdict, after nearly 30 hours of deliberations over five days.

Addressing the 12-member jury – made up of nine women and three men – Judge William Sullivan said: “I know it’s been a long day.”

In the US, the national maternal mental health hotline is 1-833-852-6262. In the UK, the Pandas foundation offers support via WhatsApp on 07903 508334. In Australia, the national maternal and perinatal mental health hotline is 1300 726 306

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

Jurors say they cannot reach a unanimous agreement after about 30 hours of deliberations. The judge is bringing them back for one last try.

© Pool photo by Greg Derr

Senator Ed Markey, 80, trounced a younger challenger who had made an argument for generational change. Two other longtime Democratic lawmakers hung on, too.

© Mark Stockwell/Associated Press

Representative Stephen Lynch, 71, a centrist, beat Patrick Roath, 39, in a primary that reflected the party’s generational and ideological divides.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

Dan Koh, who ran with the endorsement of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., topped a crowded field to secure the nomination in the safely Democratic Sixth Congressional District.

© Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, via Associated Press

The oldest senator in Massachusetts history used a progressive message to beat Representative Seth Moulton, 47, defying calls for generational change.

© Mel Musto for The New York Times

Mr. Minogue, who for years ran a medical device company, will face Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat seeking a second term, in the November election.

© Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images

Incumbent, 80, beats back challenge from Seth Moulton, who argued Markey was too old to be effective at his job

Senator Ed Markey won the Democratic primary in Massachusetts on Tuesday, beating back a challenge from Seth Moulton, a congressman who tried to unseat him by arguing to voters his opponent was too old to be effective at his job.

Massachusetts is heavily Democratic, making the senator favored to win a third full term in the November general election, where he faces the Republican nominee, John Deaton.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Maura Healey, a former state attorney general seeking a second term, has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.

© Kylie Cooper for The New York Times

Massachusetts woman does not deny fatally strangling her three children but says postpartum psychosis led her to it

The judge has told the jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial to keep deliberating after it said it was unable to come to a unanimous decision in the controversial case of the mother who killed her three children.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse in Massachusetts, does not deny strangling her children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Reuters

Markey, looking to clinch another Senate term, leads younger rival Seth Moulton in blue state’s primary poll

Democrats have spent the summer ousting long-serving incumbents in primaries across the country. On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide whether that generational revolt extends to the 80-year-old Ed Markey, whose younger Democratic rival has argued that the incumbent is simply too old to serve another term.

But the Senate primary in this heavily Democratic state flips a central dynamic of previous contests, where youthful progressive insurgents have targeted – and in several cases, toppled – older incumbents they derided as avatars of an outmoded cautious establishment.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Daniel Jacobi II/The Daily Hampshire Gazette/AP

© Photograph: Daniel Jacobi II/The Daily Hampshire Gazette/AP

© Photograph: Daniel Jacobi II/The Daily Hampshire Gazette/AP

Senator Edward Markey, who began his congressional career in 1976, faces a challenge from Representative Seth Moulton.

© Mel Musto for The New York Times; Josh Reynolds/Associated Press

Senator Ed Markey had double digit leads in every poll of the Democratic primary for Senate in August after Seth Moulton briefly narrowed the gap this spring.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times; Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Scott Brown is chasing the political limelight again with a seemingly improvised Senate campaign.

© Aleksandra Michalska/Reuters

In Massachusetts, the octogenarian senator Ed Markey faces a challenge from a much younger centrist, Representative Seth Moulton.

© Mel Musto for The New York Times

Travis Fuller was from my hometown. I went back and talked with his family about how they made sense of his death, 25 years after Sept. 11.

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has emerged as a vocal defender of transgender rights as he tries to fend off a primary challenge from Representative Seth Moulton.

© Mel Musto for The New York Times

The state concludes: ‘This wasn’t a woman suffering from a lack of care’ or ‘a lack of resources’

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

The jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has moved into deliberations as jurors decide whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children in January 2023.

Over the past five weeks, the trial, which has been called “America’s saddest murder trial” , has renewed nationwide attention on postpartum mental healthcare. Clancy’s defense maintains that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a condition estimated to affect around two women per 1,000 births – and therefore should not be held criminally responsible for her actions.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

FBI psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff says he has treated only two women with postpartum psychosis, both decades earlier

Testimony finished in the Lindsay Clancy trial on Wednesday, as a final witness for the prosecution laid out that he believed the Massachusetts mother knew right from wrong when she took the lives of her three young children before attempting to commit suicide in 2023.

Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday. The jury will then start deliberating.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

One more day of testimony expected as closing arguments set for Thursday and jury likely begins deliberations Friday

One more day of rebuttal testimony was expected this week in the trial against Lindsay Clancy, followed by closing statements likely on Thursday.

The jury, which will likely begin deliberations on Friday, will decide whether the Massachusetts mother was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.

In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledger/AP

Karen Solomon had been missing for six days after her husband Kurt Solomon was found dead at their home

A mental health advocate suspected of killing her police officer husband was found dead on Monday, six days after she disappeared from her Massachusetts home, authorities said.

Karen Solomon, an advocate who called for improvements and greater awareness of police mental health issues, had disappeared after Worcester police officer Kurt Solomon was found dead at their home just before 5.30am on 18 August. Officials had named Karen Solomon a suspect and said she was believed to be armed.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Worcester Police Department

© Photograph: Worcester Police Department

© Photograph: Worcester Police Department

Dr Kirk Heilbrun says he believes Clancy took children’s lives so they wouldn’t ‘suffer’ after she killed herself

With just days to go before the murder trial for Lindsay Clancy concludes, a forensic psychologist called by the prosecution testified on Monday that he did not believe she was experiencing acute psychosis when she killed her three children.

Kirk Heilbrun, who reportedly performed psychiatric tests on Clancy in April, told the court that he questioned her claims that a hallucinated voice commanded her to commit the act, and that he believed she took their lives so they wouldn’t “suffer” after she killed herself.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

© Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters

Visitors to Martha’s Vineyard can now traverse a property once owned by Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Known as the Squibnocket Pond Reservation, the 330-acre reserve opened last year and added a new trail in July.

© Gabriela Herman for The New York Times

Algorithms are responsible for fever pitch content surrounding trial, including misinformation, experts say

As the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children, starts to wind down, a now international discussion on social media about the case has hit a fever pitch as viewers examine details of the trial and question the state of maternal mental healthcare in the United States.

Amateur sleuths and armchair psychologists have been creating content throughout the several weeks of the trial, pointing out perceived discrepancies in evidence. They’ve pointed to Clancy’s last recorded heart rate and body temperature as “smoking guns”, suggested that Patrick Clancy, Lindsay’s ex-husband and father of the children, actually committed the crime, despite no legal evidence to back up the claim.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Josh Reynolds/Reuters

© Photograph: Josh Reynolds/Reuters

© Photograph: Josh Reynolds/Reuters

Woman remains missing more than five days after police found officer she was married to dead in their home

An arrest warrant has been issued for a mental health advocate who remained missing on Sunday, more than five days after police found the Massachusetts officer she had been married to dead in their home.

Karen Solomon, 58, was last spotted in a doorbell camera video, walking down a street in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops early Tuesday morning, just minutes after Worcester police officers responded to a call from the home where Kurt Solomon was found dead.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: WCVB-TV/AP

© Photograph: WCVB-TV/AP

© Photograph: WCVB-TV/AP

The ruling quashes a plan by the mayor of Quincy that had drawn opposition from many religious figures, as well as from residents of the racially diverse city.

© Sophie Park for The New York Times

A Massachusetts woman who was known as an advocate for the mental health of emergency workers is being sought by the police after her husband, an officer, was found dead.

Ms. Clancy has pleaded not guilty to murder, citing postpartum psychosis. Two defense witnesses said she spoke lovingly of her children after the killings.

© Pool photo by Josh Reynolds

Ms. Clancy, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of her three children, tried to find treatment for her deteriorating condition, her ex-husband’s mother testified.

© Pool photo by Jonathan Wiggs