The judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder case, who was being tried for the death of her three children in the United States, declared the trial null on Friday, after a week of the jury's attempts to reach a unanimous verdict.
The crisis began at the beginning of Friday's hearing, when the jury sent a note to the judge informing they continued being unable to reach a unanimous decision. The message said: "With heavy hearts we could not reach a decision and will not be able to."
One day prior, another communication indicated that one of the jurors was not correctly following Judge Sullivan's instructions on the concept of reasonable doubt, which is the proof standard required for a defendant to be considered guilty.
Prosecutor Reddington asked for the juror to be removed from the group, but Sullivan refused. For the judge, a member could not be removed simply for disagreeing with the rest of the jury, since the decision needed to be unanimous.
