Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy murder case

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0:30Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby. First today to the legal case that has gripped the United States over the past few weeks and indeed much of the world, the trial of Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts. Ms Clancy was accused of murdering her three children aged five, three and just eight months old. She's never denied killing them, but a key part of her defence has been her assertion that she was suffering from postpartum or postnatal psychosis at the time and couldn't distinguish right from wrong. Today, there have been dramatic scenes in the courtroom.

1:09A few hours ago, the jury declared that with a heavy heart, they'd been unable to come to a unanimous decision. Since then, the judge, William Sullivan, has declared a mistrial. All right, members of the jury, at this point, I'm going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I'm going to declare a mistrial. Well, he then went on to dismiss the jury. Outside the courthouse, Lindsay Clancy's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has been speaking to reporters. He took aim at the one member of the jury whose intransigence resulted in the mistrial. They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful, and listened to this evidence.

2:02And you could see how defeated they were sitting there. And I got a funny feeling that they would have gone on for another week if they had to. So I hope that guy can sleep well at night. So what does this mean for the case now? Well, in a moment, we'll get the very latest from our correspondent at the court, Ione Wells. First, let's get some details on this case with this background report put together by Ione. And I should flag up that some of the details are very distressing. This was a woman who acted intentionally to kill. She was begging for help. What drove a mother to kill her three children?

2:41Lindsay Clancy, a former nurse from Massachusetts, never disputed doing it. That's not the issue in this trial. But that's not what this trial has been about. It was about whether she was criminally responsible for what she did. Lindsay was a very loving mother. She was dedicated... The court heard Lindsay Kansi was a devoted mother to her three children. She was a fun mother. She was always doing things for her kids. Cora was a girly girl. Five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. Dawson was full of energy, rambunctious, funny, silly. But one night in 2023, she strangled all of them in the basement of their home.

3:21She then cut herself and jumped out of a window in an attempted suicide. She survived but was left paralysed. The children's father, her now ex-husband, Patrick, was out picking up a takeaway and came home to find them all. And when you saw Dawson, what condition was he in? I knew he was gone. So what led Lindsay Clancy to that point? She told them that she was suicidal. Her defence painted a picture of a woman who could not be held responsible for her actions. This young lady is not guilty of the killing of her children because she was suffering from a disease and defect. She was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a little known about severe mental health illness that affects some women after giving birth.

4:05Her lawyer said doctors did not provide her with the right help. One of the things that you don't do is if you have somebody that's bipolar, you don't put them on an antidepressant it messes with your brain buspirone otherwise known as vanspar yes about well she was put on medication after medication it can be used for a number of reasons but she tried calling suicide hotlines she even checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital at one point her mother paula said her symptoms got worse and worse the medication was pretty much just destroying her mind and it wasn't her she said this isn't me i just want to feel better and enjoy my kids again.

4:43Multiple witnesses said she talked about hearing a voice during hallucinations, telling her to kill herself and her children to keep them safe. This was not a woman in the throes of psychosis on January 24th, 2023. This was a woman who acted intentionally. The prosecution told a different story. And swiftly to accomplish a very specific goal, to kill. They were strangled, deliberately. They argued that Lindsay Clancy knew exactly what she was doing, that it was planned, timed for when her husband was out. She knows that it's about five miles from their house to get to the restaurant. They accepted she was struggling from mental illness, but said her awareness of these intrusive thoughts meant she knew right from wrong.

5:25Because she had a plan and she was following it through. And what about... This trial gripped America. It was televised and live-streamed across the country, pausing only when she broke down in tears. We're going to take a break this time, all right? The case has led to rallying cries for better mental health care for new mothers in America. Supporters of Clancy, dressed in pink, gathered outside. We all relate in one way or another. Many had suffered from postpartum mental health conditions themselves. So many women in the world go through this, and we really don't know much about psychosis, particularly with women who have given birth.

6:04As far as I'm concerned... Others, though, felt this swell of support for Clancy was distracting from the deaths of three children. I think what she did was horrible. I support mental health. However, in this case, three children were murdered. Thank you so much for following those instructions as we've gone through this. This trial has forced jurors to grapple with some of the most complex medical and moral questions. Where does the line between illness and responsibility begin and end? Our North America correspondent, Ione Wells, there with the background to this case. Well, Ione has been in and out of the court in Massachusetts all day.

6:42There have been dramatic scenes over the past few hours, as I mentioned. And Ione gave us the latest about an hour ago. There is intense media interest in all of this, and you can hear the news helicopters overhead. Today really started with this unknown question. Would there be a verdict today? We knew that for days the jury had been deadlocked and hadn't managed to reach consensus after two previous attempts. It became apparent yesterday, and this was raised again in court today, that there was an allegation from Lindsay Clancy's defence that one of the jurors in particular, in his words, wasn't following the law when it came to the principle of reasonable doubt.

7:24He alleged that this juror essentially wasn't understanding that you need to prove somebody guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Now, he raised that again in court. The defence was concerned that this was leading to this impasse that the jury were having. And the judge considered this yet again, but did decide that ultimately he believed that the juror hadn't had any issues deliberating and did understand that some levels of doubt in one's decision is permissible in cases like this. As a result, there was a lot of back and forth between the judge and the defence, with the defence making every last-ditch attempt, really, to try and avoid this going to a mistrial.

8:05It then became apparent, after a note the court received from the jury, that they were pretty clear they were not going to reach a consensus and said that with heavy hearts they were announcing that. At that point, the judge said that it was his intention to declare this a mistrial. The defence then, in a last attempt to avoid that, appealed to a higher court here in Massachusetts, again with the same argument but that was later dismissed so essentially that at that point the judge did decide to officially declare this a mistrial there was a moment of silence really in the courtroom when that happened i think a lot of people shocked that after so many weeks it didn't end with a verdict yeah well actually the judge did thank the jury very much didn't he for their work on the trial but what happens now if there is a mistrial will it will there be another trial or what could happen next?

8:55Well there are various options for what could happen next. We just heard in a press conference by the district attorney here in Massachusetts, so speaking on behalf of the prosecution, that they haven't made up their mind yet whether to refile this case and push for a retrial with a fresh jury. So we don't know if that's their intention yet. They're going to take a bit of time to decide. If they don't decide to do that, they could try to negotiate a sort of plea deal potentially with the defence which could involve For example, agreeing that Lindsay Clancy would accept guilt in exchange for a lesser sentence or lesser charge.

9:31Or it could be that the prosecution decided to dismiss this case. But certainly the sense I was getting from the district attorney was that he wanted to ensure, in his words, that the victims of this, the three children of Lindsay Clancy, were not forgotten. One interesting question that was raised to him, though, by a fellow journalist, was if there was a fresh trial, how would they go about trying to select a jury that would be impartial given the mass media attention that has been on this case globally? Well, that's right. And you mentioned the media attention. We can hear the helicopters in the background.

10:07I presume some of those are news helicopters. And in your report, you mentioned how much support there had been outside the court for Lindsay Clancy, a lot of women's groups getting involved. And I suppose one thing this awful case has done is drawn attention to postpartum postnatal psychosis. That's right. I got here very early this morning and already by 6am or so there were people queuing outside trying to get in, predominantly women. Some of them told me that they felt very personally invested in this case because they or their family members, for example, had suffered from severe mental health conditions themselves, some of whom after giving birth as well.

10:53And interestingly as well, during that press conference was the attorney. One of the women who had come out here to support Lindsay Clancy actually heckled the district attorney, saying, what about the mother, in a sort of angry cry before walking off. I think there is still this anger that some of her supporters feel that she didn't receive the help she needed as the trial outlined that she was put on various different medications, but was still seemingly getting worse and worse. However, her critics, and certainly there are some who have come to the court as well, feel that that attention on Lindsay Clancy is distracting somewhat from the three children who were killed, who are at the centre of this case.

11:34So I think that is something which the district attorney was also clear to emphasize, that he doesn't want those names forgotten as part of this. Yes, and it's become a national conversation point, hasn't it? We've just heard from the president, Donald Trump. He's been speaking to reporters at the White House, taking questions, including one on this. He referred to it as a horrible tragedy, and he seemed to think that there could now be another trial, although I don't know, as you say, whether that will happen. Do we know much about what the family of Lindsay Clancy has been saying? I don't know if anyone's made any comments.

12:12I mean, I know we heard from her ex-husband in your piece. Well, her family have testified at moments in this trial, including her mother, but also her former mother-in-law, her ex-husband, as you say. I saw her mother and father in the courtroom today. They weren't giving much away in terms of their expression, their emotion. But I think I can only imagine that this is weighing very heavily on their minds, the prospect of a potential other trial, although, as I say, that isn't confirmed yet. Because, of course, these were people who not only sat through weeks and weeks of harrowing testimony and evidence being presented, but in some cases they had to testify themselves, not just about what happened to Lindsay's three children, but also about her mental state, the condition she was in, the intrusive thoughts she was having, all of which was very upsetting, troubling, I think, for many of those who were sat in that courtroom throughout.

13:10That's our North America correspondent, Ione Wells, outside the court there. And there is a live page on this story on the BBC website with all the details.

13:25coming up in the next few minutes why the famous u.s desert festival the burning man is being accused of changing beyond all recognition including by one of its original founders it's become a part of the of the larger controlled society whereas in the beginning it was an expression counter to that where of creativity that was not influenced by the larger culture just deciding what you can and can't do. More on that to come in the next few minutes. Other headlines from the BBC newsroom this hour. Houthi fighters are battling with pro-government forces in Yemen in some of the worst clashes in years.

14:03We'll come back to that story later. And the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for a new world map that more accurately reflects the size of Africa.

14:25This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour live from the BBC. Today, a rare daytime Russian drone attack at the very heart of the Ukrainian government in Kiev, its security service, the SBU, specifically the office of the head of the SBU, Oleksandr Pokhlad. He was not injured in the attack, but at least nine people were with seven hospitalised. The moment of the blast was captured on one eyewitness's phone.

14:58Well, the SBU covers Ukraine's internal security. It's like the FBI or MI5 here in the UK. And although several government buildings have been hit by Russian attacks over the past four and a half years of the war, What does this daylight attack tell us about Russia's intentions and Ukraine's defences? I caught up with our diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, who's in Kiev. He gave me more details on the attack from a busy road. This comes at pretty much on the 10th day of a pretty intense series of consecutive Russian attacks on Kiev, which have been not just the usual nighttime attacks, but daytime attacks of varying scales, of varying lengths, deliberately designed, people believe here, to just cause as much disruption both to people's lives and to the economy as possible.

15:54But most of those attacks so far have been on businesses and residential areas and infrastructure. This is the first time that the actual Ukrainian government authorities have been deliberately targeted. And the authorities say that at the moment about 12 people, they understand, have been injured. Yeah. What do we know of the choosing of this target? What can you tell us about the SBU and indeed its head, who it seems did survive this attack, but was clearly identified as the target? His name is Alexander Poklad. He's the acting head of the service. He wasn't there in the office at the time. And President Zelensky published pictures of the two men meeting very soon after to discuss the strike.

16:36And what Mr. Zelensky said would be an appropriate and tangible response by the Ukrainian side. Look, the SBU are a core part of Ukraine's war effort against Russia, both deterring internal attacks by Russian saboteurs, but also carrying out attacks that are, you know, discreet and clandestine deep within Russia itself. So from that point of view, it is a core part of Ukraine's war machine and therefore would clearly be a target for the Russians. To that extent, it's been somewhat a surprise to people, actually, that the headquarters has not been targeted here in Kiev, although some of its substations and other areas have been targeted during this conflict, obviously.

17:29And does it tell us anything about Ukraine's defences at the moment? because obviously they've had a lot to say about their depleting air defences so far. But, I mean, will they be worried that they weren't able to counter this attack before it found its mark? There are two separate issues here. One is that, yes, Ukraine at the moment is struggling to defend itself against ballistic missiles simply because the Patriots interceptor missiles that it needs, it's just run out, doesn't have any left, And at the moment, the Americans are not giving them any more, nor any other allies, because the Iran conflict has depleted so much of that stock.

18:07But today's attack is a different issue. This is about a new threat, which is faster jet-powered drones. Last month, in August, the Ukrainian Air Force say that they had to receive 2 ,800 fast jet-powered drones. That's almost twice as many as the month before. and the problem is is that these jets go really fast and so the existing interceptors that Ukraine has used to be so successful against the older slower propeller driven Shahed drones they are struggling to destroy them so at the moment the Air Force says they're only taking down about 60 % of them and that's exactly what got through this afternoon and targeted the SBU headquarters.

18:50And James we're enjoying the atmospherics there of the clock behind you clearly on the streets the windy streets of Kiev for us today. But this attack comes just as we are expecting some sort of meeting again this weekend. There's been talk about the US envoys perhaps going to Moscow. What can you tell us about that? President Zelensky has said explicitly that he is currently expecting Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's two negotiators, to be in Moscow on Saturday and in Kiev on Sunday. That is the expectation. but as you know we never know whether plans will actually come to fruition.

19:27But what Mr Zelensky said very explicitly was that he would guarantee the safety of Russian airspace to allow that visit to take place. James Landale in Kiev. Now the Burning Man Festival is on now and is held every year in the Devada Black Rock Desert. It's getting too expensive though and too exclusive according to some critics famous for its cultural events, art installations and performances a creative melting pot, if you like, of big ideas. But it's got two big, two commercials, say some critics, including the co-founder John Law, who's been telling me more about how the festival has changed.

20:04Well, it's changed because it's been enormously successful. And it started out as a small event with a group of people who were collaborators and underground artists and pranksters. And it was a small event with people who were basically broke when we started it. There was no money involved at all. And so it was a total expression of creativity of this collaboration of individuals. And unlike your typical American concept of like the lone genius, like having some great idea and then changing the world and all like that, most really huge cultural shifts are of the zeitgeist. The time is right for them.

20:38And there are many, many people who can sort of sense that. And those changes come about in that way. So that's the atmosphere that the Burning Man came out of. And I don't live in the past. And, you know, it's a very different event now. Now, it has its charms, and there are still things that are good about it. But many of the things that attracted me originally to working with these people in that group, Burning Man, was the fact that it was an open group, and you could create any kind of environment that you wanted to. And it's changed dramatically in that way, in large part because it became the vacation of note, and actually almost a required vacation for Silicon Valley starting in the mid-late 90s.

21:18I mean, you say, you know, it started out with broke creatives. I mean, now it seems all the tech bros are there. You know, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos are there. It's become the sort of playground for the super rich, hasn't it? How does that totally change the festival? And I mean, I noticed that you actually haven't been for years. Do you think it's still worth going? um well that's that's an interesting question you know uh i mean i guess uh you know rich billionaires have to have fun and be creative too uh and uh so it's their event in some respect now but they're not the only people to go are they pricing out normal people i think that is probably happening but a lot of normal quote-unquote normal people still go then also there are a lot of people who go it's kind of like a convention for a lot of creative people and not necessarily just rich people but working creatives who go there and once a year and they'll see people they haven't seen all years.

22:08So it's a really great thing for those folks. But it's become a part of the larger controlled society. Whereas in the beginning, it was an expression counter to that of creativity that was not influenced by the larger culture, just deciding what you can and can't do. There's a lot of freedom involved in the early event that doesn't exist now. I mean, are there political undertones to this and also perhaps to some of the criticism? I mean, Some people might say there's a little bit of intellectual snobbery going on to kind of be against the tech pros turning up. Well, I remember hearing our former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

22:44I remember him saying at one time that all of the progressives are heading out to Burning Man instead of doing something important politically. I don't know if that's true or not, but it was an interesting quote. So I think it's a huge event. It's a creative event. There are a lot of good things about it. So a lot of hypocritical things about it. I mean, it became a corporation, and all corporations are interested in presenting and promoting their needs. And those needs don't necessarily have to do a lot of the times with being completely forthcoming with what the policies are. And I think that's happened.

23:19That's John Law, co-founder of the Burning Man Festival.

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24:20Welcome back to NewsHour. Next to what seems to be a significant medical breakthrough in the treatment of people waiting for kidney transplants. Doctors in the United States say a genetically modified pig kidney functioned inside 66-year-old patient Tim Andrews for almost nine months. That's the longest time yet recorded. The kidney gave him a bridging period while he waited for a human donor organ, which there is a global shortage of those at the moment. And it meant for that time he didn't need dialysis. Dr Leonardo Riella is the medical director of kidney transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital where this was carried out.

25:00And he told Gary O'Donoghue why this may give hope to many other patients. We passed through a major milestone for two reasons. I think, number one, we had a pig kidney working and performing all the expected kidney functions for more than nine months, allowing our patient to be off dialysis. Second, we were able to transition this patient from a pig kidney to a human kidney. And this is no ordinary pig kidney. You had to sort of do some genetic modifications to the pigs themselves to begin with, correct? Correct. These are very unique pigs. They are cloned and they have genetic edits to improve the compatibility between the pig kidney and humans.

25:44Now this is a kind of bridge technique as I understand it while you wait for a human kidney to be available, a donor kidney. What problems did you encounter after you'd implanted this kidney? Because it did eventually fail, didn't it? Yes, the immune system of humans do recognize certain things in the pig that's slightly different than a traditional human transplant. So I think they're learning, you know in terms of trying to understand what are some of the differences between a human and a pig kidney and how the immune system recognizes that and second how can we tweak how can we change slightly our anti-rejection meds in order to be able to control that in the long term so i think we're sort of getting in the right direction and we have another patient who just passed the nine month mark with the pig kidney so these are very exciting findings so far do you now feel that this is something that can be scaled.