Cully Stimson is questioning Judge William Sullivan’s instructions to jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial.

The Heritage Foundation legal fellow raised his concern Monday as deliberations continued.

Here is his analysis:

Fox News detailed Stimson’s criticism Monday:

Stimson said Massachusetts jurors are generally instructed to leave the maximum penalties out of their consideration of the charges. He said Sullivan took a different approach by telling the Clancy jury the maximum penalty for each charge it was considering.

He warned that could encourage what he called “sentence bargaining,” with jurors potentially settling on manslaughter based on the punishment rather than their findings about guilt. Stimson’s concern was the effect that knowledge could have as jurors weigh the different charges.

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“The fact that the judge threw this into the punch bowl disturbs me,” Stimson said. He also interpreted the jury’s request to handle the knife and medications as a sign that the panel was examining the evidence closely.

That is his assessment of the risk, not evidence that jurors have actually made such a bargain. Their deliberations remain private, and the length of those discussions does not establish what verdict they will reach.

Boston 25 News reported these details from Monday’s proceedings:

The jury returned to Plymouth Superior Court for a third day of deliberations after beginning Thursday and reviewing the case throughout Friday. The panel of nine women and three men resumed its discussions Monday morning after the weekend break.

According to defense attorney Kevin Reddington, jurors had asked to examine a knife found in Clancy’s bedroom and two bags containing prescription pill bottles recovered after the children died. Sullivan and the attorneys discussed that request at a sidebar rather than addressing it in open court.

The children were Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. Clancy caused their deaths in January 2023; the central dispute is whether she was criminally responsible.

Prosecutors say she understood her actions and carried out the killings deliberately. The defense argues severe mental illness left her without criminal responsibility.

Jurors heard from investigators, relatives and medical experts over weeks of testimony before receiving the case.

This Monday morning courtroom update marked the resumption of deliberations:

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A diagnosis alone does not answer the legal question the jury must decide.

The Massachusetts Court System explains that question in its model homicide instructions:

Once criminal responsibility is at issue, prosecutors must establish it beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant does not have to prove that she lacked criminal responsibility, so the burden remains with the prosecution on that question.

The legal test concerns whether a mental disease or defect deprived a person of substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct or to conform that conduct to the law. Jurors must apply that test to the evidence before them.

The instructions also allow an explanation of what can happen following a verdict of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. That is separate from deciding whether a particular prison sentence would be acceptable.

Authorities can seek commitment to a mental health facility. A court reviews continued commitment, which can be renewed without a fixed limit while the person remains mentally ill and dangerous.

Those instructions describe the general legal framework; they do not establish precisely how Sullivan phrased every instruction in this trial.

Outside court Monday, Reddington also challenged national coverage of the case. This video shows his remarks while the jury continued deliberating:

Cora, Dawson and Callan cannot speak for themselves. The verdict must rest on the evidence and the law, with the full weight of their deaths before the jury.

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File photo: Cully Stimson at a Pentagon briefing on September 6, 2006. Photo credit: Department of Defense.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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