Lindsay Clancy’s Attorney Moves To Strike Juror ‘refusing’ To Follow Reasonable-doubt Instruction

Lindsay Clancy sits as she awaits a verdict in her murder trial. Credit: Pool Photo by Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger
A pointed dispute broke out in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial Thursday over a report that one juror is refusing to follow the judge’s instructions on the law.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington told the court that the jury foreperson had reported “there’s one juror who refuses to listen to the law” on reasonable doubt. Reddington argued the judge’s earlier instruction did not go far enough and asked him to remove the juror.

“If we come back here in a half an hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it’s a shame,” he said, moving to strike the juror.

Prosecutors objected to removing anyone, saying there is “no way to determine what the deliberations are, who’s correct, who’s incorrect, nor should we attempt to, because that’s part of deliberations.” They argued the judge had acted appropriately by asking each juror whether they could follow the law and reinstructing on reasonable doubt.

Judge William Sullivan declined to remove the juror, calling the discharge of a deliberating juror “a sensitive undertaking.” He said it would not be proper “to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” noting the jurors had again affirmed they could follow his instructions. He overruled the defense’s objection and recessed.

Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. She does not dispute killing them but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

SOURCE: FOX NEWS