Tensions flare as judge declines to remove juror in Lindsay Clancy trial

A judge has again told the deadlocked jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial to keep trying to reach a verdict after a dramatic sixth day of deliberations in a case that has gripped America.

Tensions flared in court after the jury forewoman sent the judge a note saying one juror would not follow the judge's instructions on reasonable doubt.

There was audible shock in the room when the defence team asked for the juror to be removed, a request that was denied by the judge.

Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children - Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan - at her Massachusetts family home on 24 January 2023.

The former labour and delivery nurse does not deny strangling her two sons and daughter in the basement of their house.

But her lawyer argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and could not distinguish right from wrong.

The jury of nine women and three men in Plymouth has deliberated for some 35 hours without a verdict, following nearly six weeks of trial proceedings.

The panel has twice previously sent the judge notes saying it could not come to a unanimous decision, but Thursday was the first hint of rancour in the deliberation room.