Social media is Lindsay Clancy wild card that could tilt potential retrial to the defense, retired judge says

If Lindsay Clancy's murder trial ends in a mistrial, her defense could hold an unusual advantage in a retrial, a retired Massachusetts Superior Court judge says, as jurors reported for a second time Wednesday that they remain deadlocked.

Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan, all under age 6 — who were found strangled at the family's home in January 2023.

Judge William Sullivan gave jurors a Tuey-Rodriguez charge Wednesday afternoon after they reported for a second time that they were deadlocked, having first signaled they were stuck earlier in the week. The charge is given to a deadlocked jury to encourage they continue deliberations, but also to remind them to listen to one another without sacrificing their honestly held opinions.

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Sullivan declined to give the instruction earlier in the week when jurors first reported difficulty agreeing, opting instead to simply send them back.

The jurors deliberating in are discussing several options, which include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility (insanity) or not guilty.

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Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu told Fox News Digital that a retrial after a mistrial has traditionally favored the prosecution, but that social media has upended that conventional wisdom.

"In the past, the conventional wisdom was that the prosecution is more likely to win on a retrial after a hung jury. Now it's different... The new conventional wisdom is question mark because of social media infected trials," Lu said.

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Lu pointed to Karen Read's case, the Massachusetts woman who was tried twice in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend. Her case drew a massive amount of social media interest, which he said had a major impact on her trials. In 2024, jurors deadlocked in Read's trial, and she was acquitted at her retrial in 2025.

"In the Karen Read case, the social media abuse was at a slow boil in the first trial. At the second trial, it just all erupted," Lu said.

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Lu himself said he's no longer on social media because "it's too abusive an environment."

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While Reddington himself said he'd "absolutely" go to trial again if Sullivan declares a mistrial, he said Clancy couldn't emotionally handle another one.

"She had a flat affect, shes sad," he said on Tuesda