The jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial in Massachusetts completed a fifth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict, after twice reporting a deadlock and receiving a rare judicial instruction urging them to keep trying to agree. The case is closely watched because Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse, does not dispute killing her three young children, but her defence argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and should be found not criminally responsible, while prosecutors argue she planned the killings and knew right from wrong. The prolonged deadlock raises the prospect of a mistrial, though jurors are due to resume deliberations on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Judge William Sullivan gave the panel of nine women and three men a "Tuey-Rodriguez" instruction, a formal charge encouraging continued deliberation without abandoning genuinely held views, generally regarded as the last step before a mistrial can be declared. Clancy, 36, killed her children Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan at the family home in Duxbury in January 2023. Separately, a woman accused of filming jurors leaving court was arraigned on a witness intimidation-related charge and pleaded not guilty, prompting the judge to reaffirm that protective orders for jurors would be strictly enforced.