A 56-year-old woman is accused of intimidating jurors in the criminal trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children.
Dawn Light of Sutton, Massachusetts, was arraigned Wednesday in the same courthouse where the Clancy trial is being held on a charge of intimidation of a witness, jurors, or person furnishing information in connection with criminal proceedings.
A not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf and she was released without having to post bail, but was ordered to stay away from the court, the jurors and any witnesses in the case.
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Light’s attorney, Jennifer White, called it a “misunderstanding” and said that Light, a retired nurse, was only trying to take a photo of Clancy and “not interact with the jurors.”
A prosecutor said Light was parked in a restricted area behind the courthouse and is accused of filming the jurors as they left court.
Judge William Sullivan opened Wednesday's proceedings by giving a general admonishment to everyone in the courtroom about following his orders on how people should conduct themselves.
“And everybody should be well aware that the order and that statute is being enforced, and will be enforced,” he said. "So I just wanted to put that out there, with no follow-up and editorial comment.”
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While Sullivan didn’t mention it directly in court, the order he referenced bars journalists covering the trial from photographing or filming the jury at any time until the case concludes. It also says “No person shall contact, follow, interview, or communicate in any way with a juror prior to the discharge of the jury or otherwise harass or tamper with a juror.”
Clancy, 36, has not denied strangling her three young children at the family's Massachusetts home in 2023, but she says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue that the former labor and delivery nurse knew what she was doing.
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Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
The jury has been deliberating on a verdict for four days.
