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The panel said for a second time it could not agree, hours after jurors were re-sworn following an alleged courthouse intimidation incident.
The jury deciding whether Lindsay Clancy was criminally responsible for killing her three children has declared itself deadlocked for a second time, pushing the closely watched Massachusetts murder trial toward its most precarious stage yet.
After roughly 27.5 hours of deliberations, jurors sent Judge William Sullivan another note Wednesday afternoon saying they could not reach unanimous verdicts. This time Sullivan formally delivered the Tuey-Rodriguez charge, Massachusetts’ version of the so-called “dynamite charge,” instructing jurors to reconsider their positions and continue trying to reach agreement. The panel had first reported a deadlock Tuesday, but Sullivan initially stopped short of giving the formal instruction.
The courtroom drama came after an extraordinary disturbance outside the courthouse. Massachusetts State Police arrested Dawn Light, 56, after prosecutors alleged she filmed jurors leaving through a restricted parking area. Light, described as a true-crime follower, says she was attempting to film Clancy rather than the jury. Investigators allegedly recovered deleted footage showing people later identified as jurors.
Sullivan individually re-swore the jurors Wednesday morning before deliberations resumed and warned that court orders protecting jurors and witnesses were being enforced. Light pleaded not guilty to aggravated intimidation and was released without the $50,000 cash bail prosecutors requested. Meanwhile, Clancy’s jury remains divided over the central question that has hung over the trial from the beginning: murder or lack of criminal responsibility.
Hot Take: The jury has knocked twice on the same locked door, and now the judge has handed them the legal equivalent of a crowbar. Somewhere inside that room, somebody still refuses to budge.
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The ousted Venezuelan leader argues American courts have no jurisdiction to prosecute a sitting foreign head of state captured during the Caracas raid.
Nicolás Maduro is asking a federal judge to dismiss the drug trafficking case against him, arguing that his status as Venezuela’s president gives him immunity from prosecution in the United States.
Maduro’s attorney, Barry Pollack, filed the argument Wednesday in New York, maintaining that prosecuting a sitting foreign leader violates sovereign immunity under international law. Maduro was captured by U.S. forces during the January operation in Caracas and has since been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial on June 1, 2027.
The dispute could become a major test of how American courts treat a leader Washington itself stopped recognizing in 2019. Maduro’s lawyers argue the conduct alleged by prosecutors fell within his official role and that the charges are politically motivated. His wife, Cilia Flores, has made a similar bid for dismissal. Prosecutors have until October 2 to respond ahead of a November 17 hearing.
Hot Take: America says Maduro stopped being president years ago. Maduro says Washington doesn’t get to decide that with handcuffs and a courtroom. Now a judge gets the diplomatic headache.
Tyler Robinson’s plea has reignited Owens’ attacks on commentators she says treated the Charlie Kirk assassination case as settled before trial.
Candace Owens has issued a furious warning to critics after Tyler Robinson pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Owens, who has repeatedly questioned aspects of the official account surrounding Robinson’s arrest and the case against him, seized on the plea to accuse online commentators of presenting allegations as established facts. She attacked influencers who she says claimed Robinson surrendered and admitted guilt, arguing that the criminal process must remain based on a presumption of innocence rather than public pressure.
Robinson’s not-guilty plea does not itself undermine the evidence prosecutors say they possess, and the allegations against him will now be tested through the court process. Owens nevertheless predicted that the trial would expose what she described as months of misinformation. The next major hearing is scheduled for October 23, when a trial date is expected to be considered.
Hot Take: Courtrooms have a nasty habit of ruining tidy internet narratives. Owens is betting that once the witnesses take the stand and the paperwork hits daylight, somebody’s story starts bleeding ink.
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Clark County’s district attorney says there is currently not enough evidence to prosecute Sean Combs, but the door is not permanently closed.
Sean “Diddy” Combs remains within the orbit of the Tupac Shakur murder investigation after prosecutors said they could consider further charges if new evidence emerges following Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ conviction.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said authorities do not currently believe they have enough evidence to charge anyone else over Shakur’s 1996 murder. However, he made clear investigators could reconsider if additional information provides corroboration. Combs has repeatedly denied allegations connecting him to the killing and has never been charged in the case.
Davis previously claimed Combs offered $1 million for the deaths of Shakur and Death Row Records boss Suge Knight, an allegation prosecutors would need independent evidence to support before any case could move forward. Davis was convicted of first-degree murder after prosecutors argued he procured the gun and helped organize the retaliatory attack. His guilty verdict has now renewed public pressure to examine whether anyone else helped finance, encourage or arrange the killing.
Hot Take: Keffe D’s conviction closed one file and immediately cracked open another drawer. Diddy isn’t charged, and accusation is not evidence. But after 30 years, detectives know better than to throw away a name written this many times in the margins.
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Her postconviction challenge remains blocked after attorneys filed one day late, while a separate federal attempt to overturn her convictions continues.
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected Mackenzie Shirilla’s latest attempt to revive a postconviction challenge to her murder convictions, leaving a missed filing deadline standing between her and further state-court review.
Shirilla’s attorneys had asked the court to reconsider its June refusal to hear an appeal after lower courts ruled her petition was submitted one day after Ohio’s 365-day deadline. The petition alleged ineffective assistance of counsel and cited evidence concerning postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which her lawyers argue could support the possibility she blacked out before the crash.
Shirilla was 17 when she drove a Toyota Camry into a Strongsville building in July 2022, killing boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan. Prosecutors said surveillance and vehicle data showed she accelerated to nearly 100 mph without braking. Convicted of murder in 2023 and sentenced to 15 years to life, Shirilla is now pursuing a separate federal habeas corpus case.
Hot Take: One day late can be an eternity in an appeals court. Shirilla still has a federal road left to travel, but another state door just slammed shut behind her.
