Here’s what the judge gave the jury in the instructions:
BRAVE AI:
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial had five potential verdict options to decide her fate:
First-degree murder: Requires proof of deliberate premeditation or extreme atrocity/cruelty, punishable by life in prison without parole.
Second-degree murder: Requires proof of criminal responsibility but without the specific aggravating factors of first-degree, punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Manslaughter: Requires proof of wanton and reckless conduct resulting in death, punishable by up to 20 years in prison per count.
Not guilty by reason of insanity (lack of criminal responsibility): A finding that a mental disease or defect prevented Clancy from understanding her actions were wrong or controlling her conduct, leading to indefinite psychiatric commitment rather than prison.
Not guilty: An acquittal based on the prosecution failing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy killed the children, which would result in her immediate release.
Ultimately, the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on any of these five options, resulting in a mistrial declared by Judge William Sullivan on September 4, 2026.
Ah! Reason of insanity is the out.
Thank you!
How about “temporary mental aberration”? In Dostoyevski’s “Crime and Punishment”, Raskolnikov was accused of that and he got exiled to Siberia.