They have been largely anonymous figures for much of the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, referred to only by their juror number and the media prohibited from showing them.
The Clancy jury - nine women and three men - is tasked with deciding whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.
She is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the strangling deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy in January 2023. Her defense attorney Kevin Reddington has argued she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and should not be held criminally responsible. Prosecutors contend Clancy understood what she was doing and was capable of following the law.
Jurors were set to continue deliberating Thursday in the case against the Connecticut native. They have spent nearly 30 hours deliberating so far, deadlocking twice. The lengthy deliberations follow five-plus weeks of emotional testimony that included more than 80 witnesses and 300 exhibits.
The 12 jurors who will decide Clancy's fate mostly are white and middle-aged; they appear to span several generations. It is not clear whether the court will release the jurors' names after the trial ends.
Todd Fernow, a University of Connecticut law professor and former director of the school's Criminal Law Clinic, cautioned against reading too much into the jury's demographics.
"I don't know if it makes any sense to say men or women or professionals or blue-collar people are more likely to take one position over the other," Fernow said. "Everybody is going to have their view on it."
Parenthood, however, could play a meaningful role in the jurors' deliberations. Understanding the case, Fernow said, begins with understanding what it means to be a parent of several young children.
"That's a different type of dynamic, but it's the one I think will be a common denominator," he said.
Parents might understand the case differently from those without children, Fernow said, and that "cuts both ways." Some might empathize with Clancy and the strain of caring for young children while struggling with mental health issues. Others might find the killings especially hard to understand or accept, making them more sympathetic to the prosecution.
"Their experiences as parents will be a central part of their deliberation process," Fernow said. "They'll be able to talk to each other about what it's like to be a parent of a small child in ways that people who aren't parents would be left out of the conversation."
The other six members of the 18-person panel are alternates. They heard the evidence throughout the trial but randomly were selected as alternates before deliberations began. They will not participate unless one of the 12 deciding jurors were to be dismissed.
During the trial, all 18 jurors sat together in two rows along the side of the courtroom. The 12 deliberating jurors now sit separately from the six alternates, who are seated in two rows beside them. The deliberating jurors' seats are slightly elevated above those of the alternates.
Jurors have been watched closely throughout the proceedings, with spectators and journalists tracking their expressions and critiquing their appearances. When one juror wore a hot-pink T-shirt this week, a journalist asked Reddington outside the courthouse whether he thought it could signal sympathy for Clancy and her supporters, some of whom have attended the trial wearing pink.
That scrutiny took a more serious turn this week.
On Wednesday morning, a 56-year-old Massachusetts woman was arraigned on a charge of jury intimidation after prosecutors said she filmed jurors in the Clancy trial as they left the courthouse Tuesday afternoon. The woman, Dawn Light, was ordered to stay away from the courthouse grounds and from any jurors or witnesses in the case. She also was told not to disseminate any photographs or videos she might have saved on her iCloud account.
Reddington called the incident "no big deal" and said he still had faith in the jury. He reiterated his confidence after leaving the courthouse Wednesday afternoon.
"I'm very proud of the jury," Reddington said. "It's a tribute to the system – it's amazing. They're working very very hard, and whatever happens with the case, nobody can say they haven't given it their all."
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This article originally published at Who are the 12 Lindsay Clancy jurors? Expert says one life experience could 'cut both ways'.