PLYMOUTH — An international spotlight on this small-town Massachusetts courthouse, a media circus every day, high-stakes jury deliberations. A group of women, in quiet solidarity.
As the world awaits a verdict in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, a cloak of hushed apprehension has settled over the courthouse, a nondescript brick building about 2 miles south of Plymouth’s waterfront downtown. The picturesque coastal community more often attracts tourists and history buffs, drawn to its expansive beaches and national historic sites.
Instead, in recent days, many have come to bear witness to the prosecution of Clancy, the Duxbury mother charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children. The case has already captivated a massive audience and sparked public outrage over gaps in psychiatric care and women’s postpartum mental health.
Clancy alleges she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she strangled the children with exercise bands in the basement of the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023. She then attempted suicide by slashing her neck and wrists before jumping out a second-story window.
On Tuesday morning, when jurors indicated they were deadlocked, observers in the courtroom gallery let out a collective gasp. Then came the sound of frantic typing from reporters covering the trial. After more than a month of testimony and roughly 23 hours of deliberations over four days, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict; the judge told them to keep trying.
Meanwhile, in the courthouse lobby downstairs, Hannah Estrada was anxiously scrolling social media, watching the latest takes about the hugely polarizing case.
Estrada, 37, had traveled from Houston to witness the scene in person and support Clancy, a woman from a different world whose struggles reminded Estrada of her own.
“I know what happened to her. I know where she went mentally,” Estrada said, describing her own efforts to cope with postpartum mental health. “Even if she feels like a monster, we want her to know there’s a lot of moms out here supporting her.”
Clancy has admitted to killing Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. She entered what’s commonly called an insanity plea, arguing she was experiencing postpartum psychosis after her psychiatric providers failed to properly diagnose and treat her.
The central question before the jury is whether she should be held criminally responsible for the killings.
Prosecutors allege Clancy, 36, carefully planned them because she wanted to kill herself and didn’t trust anyone else to care for her children. Under Massachusetts law, they have the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy was in her right mind and able to obey the law.
Watching the trial testimony online, Estrada said, her mind went back to when her younger son was 8 months old, the same age as Callan. After going 48 hours without sleep, she asked her then-husband to call 911 because she feared she wasn’t in her right mind. She was ultimately institutionalized and medicated, an experience that left her even more traumatized.
“It’s like you’re leaving your rational mind,” she said, adding that she believes Clancy shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because she wasn’t herself at the time.
After following the case and discussing its themes, Estrada and her mother booked last-minute plane tickets from Houston, landed in Boston late Sunday, drove to Plymouth, and checked into a local hotel. After a few hours of sleep, they arrived outside the courthouse Monday morning.
When court broke for lunch, they fought their way through a giant media scrum for a moment with Clancy’s defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, the veteran Massachusetts trial attorney whose work on the case has turned him into somewhat of an internet sensation.
“He’s a man in a powerful position who’s speaking out for women,” said Estrada’s mother, Laurel Witwen.
She said she personally thanked Reddington for holding Clancy’s hand during especially emotional testimony.
As the women climbed into their rental car Monday evening, they waved goodbye to another Clancy supporter, Dawn Jeronowitz, who said she drove up from New Jersey to help raise awareness about the potentially dangerous side effects of psychiatric drugs. She said the case has exposed a misguided mental health system where providers are too quick to write prescriptions.
Several of Clancy’s psychiatric providers testified during the trial, describing the various medications she took to address anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
“Her prescribers are guilty as hell,” said Jeronowitz, who published a memoir about her personal experiences with psychiatric drugs.
Jeronowitz was returning to her home in New Jersey Monday night.
“My heart will be here with you,” she told the women from Houston.
The trial has drawn a range of spectators to Plymouth over the past five weeks, including a demonstration where hundreds of women dressed in pink to show their support of Clancy.
Others, though, were decidedly not supportive of her. For example on Friday, Christine Fernandes and her teenage daughter displayed handwritten signs that read: “1st Degree MURDER” and “Kidslaughter.” Fernandes, of Fall River, said she was troubled that discussions of women’s mental health have taken attention away from the victims, Clancy’s three children.
After the jury was dismissed for the weekend, mother and daughter joined a small but raucous group of protesters at the back of the courthouse parking lot.
The group included Jake Lang, a far-right influencer who was pardoned by President Trump after being charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Capital punishment for Lindsay Clancy,” he yelled, waving a hot pink sign that said, “We used to burn witches at the stake.”
A woman next to him displayed another message: “Liberal women = mental illness.”
While the courthouse is abuzz with activity, the rest of Plymouth has apparently escaped the frenzy.
Sophia Moore was visiting from South Dakota, along with her husband and four children, ages 5 to 12. The family stopped Tuesday to see Plymouth Rock. Moore said posts about the Clancy case had come up on her social media, but she was quick to scroll past them because of the emotional toll.
“I’ve chosen not to click because I can’t even imagine a mom doing that,” she said.
Meanwhile, as the jury deliberations continued Tuesday afternoon, dozens of reporters camped out in the hallway near the courtroom, watching for signs of a verdict and carefully monitoring the movements of attorneys and court staff. Outside, camera crews tried to fend off intermittent rain showers using plastic bags and umbrellas to protect their equipment.
Everyone was in limbo.
And the uncertainty will persist for the time being. Judge William T. Sullivan dismissed the jury around 3:30 p.m., telling them to return Wednesday morning to continue deliberating.
As Reddington exited the courthouse, he was mobbed by a swarm of media peppering him with questions about where the case stands. Asked if Clancy was emotionally prepared to have the case retried, he said no.
He said Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz should have to explain his decision to bring first-degree murder charges, which require a jury trial in Massachusetts. That public spectacle could have been avoided if prosecutors chose second-degree murder or manslaughter instead, which would allow the case to be tried before a judge alone.
“He drives the bus,” Reddington said of Cruz.
Elsewhere in the courthouse Tuesday, it was business as usual.
In another courtroom downstairs, the clerk told a defendant to hold tight because his paperwork was en route — yet another reminder that the wheels of justice often turn slowly.
“Sit down and relax, enjoy yourself,” she said. “Thank you for your patience.”
Jenna Perlman of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Ariela Lopez contributed to this report.
Lea Skene can be reached at lea.skene@globe.com. Follow her on X @lea_skene. Shelley Murphy can b