The jury weighing the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three children, has once again come back saying they are deadlocked in deliberations. The judge ordered them to go back into deliberations one more time.

Judge William Sullivan said that in light of the jury’s note, he was going to give them “another instruction.” He said, “our constitution and laws provide that in a criminal case, the principal way for deciding questions of fact is by the verdict of a jury. In most cases, perhaps strictly speaking, in all cases, absolute certainty cannot be attained, nor is it expected. The verdict to which a juror agrees must be their own, the result of their own convictions, and not a mere acquiescence in the conclusions of their fellow jurors. 

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“Yet, in order to bring 12 minds to a unanimous result, you must examine the questions submitted to you with candor and with proper regard and deference and respect to the opinions of each other, you should consider that it is desirable that the case be decided, and that you have been selected in the same manner and from the same source from which any future jury would be,” he added.

“There is no reason to suppose that the case will ever be submitted to 12 persons more intelligent, more impartial, or more competent to decide it, that more or clear evidence will be produced. And with this in mind, it's your duty to decide the case if you can do it conscientiously, in order to make a decision more attainable, the law imposes the burden of proof on one party or the other in all cases.”

“In the present case, a criminal case, the burden of proof is on the Commonwealth to establish every element of the crime charge beyond reasonable doubt, if you are left in doubt of any element of the crime, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and must be acquitted.”