The judge in the Lindsay Clancy trial sparred with her defense attorney at the start of deliberations on Friday, Sept. 4, after a wild course of events unfolded between jurors in court the prior day.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington clashed with Judge William Sullivan after he pushed for the court to be more stern about instructions on the law.
"What do you want me to do? Get a brass band?" Sullivan said to Reddington.
It came after the jury foreperson sent a note to Sullivan on the afternoon of Sept. 3 alleging that one person "refused to listen" to the court's instructions on reasonable doubt, Reddington said. At that point, they had been deliberating for more than 36 hours and had been at an impasse for days.
Sept. 4 marks the group's seventh
day of deliberations in the high-profile triple-murder case, which appeared to be headed for mistrial after the jury twice indicated that they were deadlocked on a verdict.
Clancy is facing three counts of murder for strangling her three children to death at the family's Massachusetts home in January 2023. Prosecutors allege the now-36-year-old carried out the killings in a deliberate, planned attack, while her defense argues she is not criminally responsible because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time. She pleaded not guilty.
Reddington alleges holdout juror lied to judge
At the start of court on Sept. 4, Sullivan heard from both the prosecution and defense on how they wanted to proceed after the prior day's note.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague asked Sullivan to instruct the jury to continue deliberations.
Reddington continued pushing for the removal of the individual juror after unsuccessfully motioning for it the day prior.
He argued that the jury's notes suggested that the holdout juror is not properly applying the law, and may be lying to the judge about it. Specifically, Reddington said the note said the juror "made statements acknowledging doubt."
"Clearly, judge, we have a person who, under their oath, stood in front of you yesterday, when you did the individual voir dire, and according to this information, under oath, looked you in the eye and lied," Reddington said.
Sprague disagreed that the content of the note suggests the juror lied.
"The note indicates that the parties disagree on what is reasonable doubt or what doubt is and how it should be applied. And we are in no position to judge if the 11 are right or the one is right," Sprague said.
After Sullivan decided not to move forward with individual questioning of the jurors, Reddington asked the judge to give them instructions "forcefully."
Sullivan fired back that he read the instructions as written by the state's Supreme Judicial Court.
"The fact that I perhaps didn't give it my full inflection, I'm sorry about that. I'm not an actor. I'm just giving the instructions," Sullivan said.
Before bringing the jury back out, Sullivan added, "I'll try and give this with more pizzazz than I gave yesterday, I suppose."
Watch Lindsay Clancy trial live
Lindsay Clancy jurors clash. What happened in court yesterday?
Before 3 p.m. ET on Sept. 3, jurors sent a note to Sullivan indicating that one person "refuses to listen to the law" that the court gave about reasonable doubt, Reddington said.
Sullivan then questioned each juror individually before bringing the group of nine women and three men back into the courtroom. He reminded them again of the definition of reasonable doubt before sending them back to deliberations.
Reddington motioned to have the holdout juror removed, telling the judge it would be a "real shame" if there was a mistrial because of a "juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court."
But Sullivan denied the motion before sending the jury home for the day.
"I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11," Sullivan said.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lindsay Clancy attorney spars with judge after juror deliberation clash
