Judge Sends 18 Clancy Jurors Home After 1 Hour of Chaplain Testimony

Q: What unforeseen circumstance forced the judge to abruptly halt the high-stakes murder trial of a mother claiming postpartum psychosis?

The judge did not disclose the unforeseen circumstance, and no public report identified the cause of the abrupt halt. What is known is that Judge William Sullivan sent the 18 jurors home on Aug. 19 after lunch, described the interruption only as an “unforeseen circumstance,” and told them not to speculate or hold the delay against either side. Multiple contemporaneous reports said the reason was not explained in court. So the direct answer is that the exact circumstance remains unknown publicly. Testimony was expected to resume afterward, but the court did not provide further detail at the time of the pause.

3 articles · Updated · WABC-TV · Aug 20

1 hour into Thursday's session, Judge William Sullivan sent jurors home in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial and told them to prepare for a longer day Friday.
Sheila Cavanaugh, a chaplain who said she has visited Clancy about 200 times at Tewkesbury State Hospital, acknowledged her notes never recorded Clancy saying she heard a voice in her head.
Prosecutors used that omission to challenge the defense claim that Clancy was in postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children and tried to take her own life.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three first-degree murder counts in the Jan. 24, 2023 deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and infant Callan at the family's Duxbury home.
The shortened day followed another disruption Tuesday, when Sullivan excused the 18-member jury over what he called an unforeseen circumstance.