Another bombshell dropped on Friday morning in the Lindsay Clancy trial. Judge William Sullivan conducted an additional inquiry into the holdout juror after declining to remove the juror on Thursday. Judge Sullivan shot down a request from Clancy\u2019s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, to potentially remove the lone juror holding out on a \u201cguilty\u201d verdict. On Thursday, the foreperson\u2019s note disclosed an apparent 11-1 division and alleged that the lone juror was not following the court\u2019s reasonable-doubt instructions.<\/p>\n
Judge Sullivan individually questioned all 12 jurors and asked whether they could follow his legal instructions. Reddington filed an emergency motion this morning asking Judge Sullivan to prohibit any further private sidebar discussions in the case. The one-page filing asked Sullivan for a standing order requiring that the trial and all related proceedings be conducted in open court, rather than through private conversations at sidebar. That\u2019s important because yesterday\u2019s extraordinary juror controversy largely unfolded through sidebars that the public and livestream audience could not hear.<\/p>\n
There is also an important distinction about the alleged 11-1 jury split. Reddington has suggested that he believes the 11 jurors favor Clancy, but the court has not officially disclosed the jury\u2019s actual votes.<\/p>\n
Thursday began as the sixth day of jury deliberations, following two previous declarations that the jury was deadlocked. By approximately 3 p.m., after roughly 35 hours of deliberations, another jury note arrived. Judge Sullivan brought court back into session and proceeded to question all 12 jurors individually under oath. The questioning occurred at the sidebar, meaning viewers watching the livestream couldn\u2019t hear the questions or answers.<\/p>\n
Clancy was brought to the sidebar in her wheelchair while the jurors were questioned. ABC reported that prosecutors and defense attorneys were visibly disagreeing about what was happening. After questioning the jurors individually, Sullivan brought the entire jury back and delivered another instruction concerning reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n