ELEVEN JURORS WERE READY TO ACQUIT LINDSAY CLANCY — BUT ONE HOLDOUT COULDN’T ‘WRAP HIS HEAD AROUND’ A SINGLE DETAIL, LEAVING THE ENTIRE TRIAL DEADLOCKED 11–1. After days of deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict — with one person standing apart from the rest. The split ultimately forced a mistrial, but the questions surrounding that final 11–1 divide did not end when the courtroom emptied. Now, one juror has spoken publicly about what was happening behind closed doors and the issue that appeared to stop the lone holdout from moving any closer to the majority. It was a sticking point the other jurors could not overcome — and one that may help explain why an otherwise near-unanimous jury never reached a verdict.

The holdout was the only juror who voted against acquitting Clancy

Paula Devlin Lindsay Clancy
Paula Devlin, left, and Lindsay Clancy.Credit :CBS News; Greg Derr / POOL / AFP/Getty

A Lindsay Clancy juror revealed what the lone holdout struggled to comprehend in a new interview.

Paula Devlin, who served on the jury and voted to find Clancy not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, spoke to Gayle King on CBS Mornings on Friday, Sept. 11.

King asked Devlin what the holdout, who voted to find Clancy guilty of murder, could not “wrap his head around” during deliberations.

Devlin responded that the holdout, whom she described as a Black man in his 30s, had questions about how Clancy could take so many steps in an apparent suicide attempt while in a supposed state of psychosis.

“That she could do this one at a time, and then do all the steps that she did to go and commit suicide,” Devlin said.

Clancy doesn’t deny that she fatally strangled her children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months old — and then cut her wrists and jumped out of a second-story window.

But Clancy’s defense claims that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, arguing that she was not criminally responsible as a result.

CBS

The trial ended in a mistrial after jurors told Judge William Sullivan they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

In the aftermath, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion to have his client found not guilty, citing juror interviews.

Devlin told King she did not feel good about that motion.

“Part of the reason why we wanted ‘not responsible’ was that everybody wants justice for those children,” she said. “Those children never left that room, they’ve never left our hearts. And that was a way to get justice for those children. This wouldn’t have happened if Lindsay didn’t get lost in the system and failed by the system.”

If Clancy had been found not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, she would not have gone free immediately. Instead, she would have faced a potentially indefinite series of orders of commitment to a secure mental health facility.

King also asked Devlin what she believes justice looks like in Clancy’s case.

“I think the ‘not responsible’ and getting the help that she needs and making more awareness about postpartum,” Devlin said.

Prosecutors have not yet said if they plan to retry the case. A follow-up court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.

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