The closely-watched Lindsay Clancy trial ends with one last dramatic moment

In practice, the closely watched case of the Massachusetts mother who killed her three young children was on the verge of being declared a mistrial Friday – but there was still one more dramatic moment to come.

Key points

• After weeks of grueling testimony, the jury could not obtain beyond an impasse on the seventh day of deliberations on murder charges against Lindsay Clancy.
• That kicked off a tense wait while a judge on the state's top court considered the ask.
• The whiplash moment was one last piece of courtroom drama in a livestreamed trial that captivated and divided plenty of throughout the nation.

What happened

After weeks of grueling testimony, the jury could not obtain beyond an impasse on the seventh day of deliberations on murder charges against Lindsay Clancy. An audible gasp was heard in the courtroom as Judge William F. Sullivan remarked he was going to to end their deliberations without reaching a verdict.

But just as the jurors were regarding to come back to the courtroom, Lindsay Clancy's lawyer asked to produce a last-minute request for a higher court to stave off the mistrial. That kicked off a tense wait while a judge on the state's top court considered the ask.

For context, the whiplash moment was one last piece of courtroom drama in a livestreamed trial that captivated and divided plenty of throughout the nation. And now prosecutors must decide whether to do it all over again with a second trial.

The bottom line

For now, the closely-watched Lindsay Clancy trial ends with one last dramatic moment remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.