The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has convened an emergency hearing to respond to a last-minute appeal from Lindsay Clancy's defense to avoid a mistrial, Fox News reported.

After verbally announcing he would declare a mistrial, Judge William Sullivan backtracked to allow defense attorney Kevin Reddington to appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for a stay. Sullivan gave him one hour, though that deadline has already passed.

Reddington has taken issue with a single juror, who is apparently the sole holdout to a unanimous verdict. The jury foreman, earlier this week, passed a note to the court, expressing frustration with the juror and saying they refused to apply reasonable doubt. Reddington, according to Fox News, has argued that the juror demonstrated a bias against people suffering from mental illness and also attacked Sullivan, whom he accused of abdicating his responsibility to assess the capacity of the jurors.

Sullivan has declined to dismiss the juror, despite Reddington's objections that he failed to "forcefully" instruct the jury on the reasonable doubt standard. Sullivan previously issued a rare Tuey-Rodriguez charge to the jury, which is essentially a more sternly worded appeal to the jury to reach a unanimous verdict.

Clancy stands accused of murdering her three children in 2023. While she admits to the act, she has argued she suffered from severe mental illness and should not be held criminally liable.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.