'Dynamite Charge' explained after Lindsay Clancy jury says it is deadlocked

The jury deliberating over the fate of Massachusetts mom Lindsay Clancy has returned after four days, telling the court that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.

After roughly 18 hours of gruelling deliberations, the panel informed Judge William Sullivan that it is in a deadlock - but the veteran judge is refusing to accept a hung jury just yet as he ordered the jurors back into the deliberation room.

"I brought you back out because I know that this was a long trial," the judge told the court. "I know there were over 80 witnesses. There were over 300 exhibits but because of that I’m going to ask you to go back out, keeping in mind all of the instructions that I gave you, to go out and continue your deliberation at this time."

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, is currently facing three counts of first-degree murder.

She has already admitted to strangling her three young children - five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan - using exercise bands inside their family home in January 2023.

Lindsay Clancy's verdict hangs in the balance

The 12 jurors, consisting of nine women and three men, have five potential options before them as they weigh the killer mom's fate.

The verdict options include not guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter.

So far, the panel has only asked one specific question, requesting to view the knife Clancy used in her suicide attempt alongside her prescription medication bottles.

Her defense team is desperately pushing for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing she suffered an episode of severe postpartum psychosis. They claim she could not appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions when she attacked her children.

Meanwhile, prosecutors believe she premeditated the kids' deaths and was not in a state of psychosis.

If the jurors eventually return another note confirming they are still deadlocked, Judge Sullivan could formally issue a 'Tuey-Rodriguez charge'.

Lindsay Clancy has admitted killing her three children, but her defense team has argued that she is not criminally responsible for their deaths (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

'Dynamite charge' explained

Nicknamed the 'dynamite charge', this final legal instruction heavily pressures deadlocked jurors to reach a unanimous verdict in Massachusetts courts.

Boston attorney Peter Elikann explained, per the New York Post, how the charge works: “It really pushes the jury and urges them to try to work out a unanimous decision. It’s almost equivalent to a pep talk by the judge encouraging them to go back and try harder."

David Rossman, director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program at Boston University, noted the charge forces jurors to 'search your conscience to see whether your position is truly reflective of your view'.

Holdout jurors are specifically asked to seriously consider whether they have 'been open to what other people have said'.

"If they can’t agree, I would expect the judge to deliver that kind of instruction because this has been a very labor-intensive trial and it would cost a lot," Rossman explained, per CT Insider.

If a total deadlock still persists after the 'dynamite charge' is delivered, the judge would then be constrained to officially declare a mistrial.