Judge in Lindsay Clancy case prepares to declare mistrial

Lindsay Clancy watches jurors enter the courtroom (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP)

The judge in the Lindsay Clancy case said he is going to declare a mistrial before giving her defence lawyer an hour to appeal.

The move comes after jurors said for a third time they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether the Massachusetts mother was criminally responsible when she strangled her three young children.

The deliberations took a dramatic turn late in the week when the foreperson told the judge that a lone juror was refusing to follow the court’s instructions about reasonable doubt.

It offered a rare glimpse of the possible conflict inside the jury room and prompted Clancy’s lawyer to demand the juror be kicked off the case.