“I ONLY WANTED A PHOTO OF LINDSAY” — DAWN LIGHT FACES FELONY JURY INTIMIDATION CHARGE AFTER JURORS WERE ALLEGEDLY RECORDED

A dramatic new twist has erupted around the high-profile Lindsay Clancy trial after a 56-year-old supporter was arrested and accused of recording members of the jury as they left the courthouse.

Dawn Light, a retired nurse from Sutton, Massachusetts, appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of aggravated intimidation involving a juror.

Prosecutors allege Light entered a restricted area outside Plymouth Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon and used her cellphone to record jurors leaving the building.

The timing has intensified concerns surrounding the Clancy case, where jurors have already struggled to reach a unanimous decision after days of deliberations.

THE MOMENT THAT TRIGGERED THE ARREST

According to prosecutors, Light had parked in an area reserved for court personnel, jurors and prosecutors.

A court official reportedly noticed her in the restricted area as jurors were leaving after another day of deliberations.

Authorities were alerted, and Massachusetts State Police later examined Light’s phone.

Although prosecutors said the videos and photographs visible on the phone did not initially show jurors, investigators allegedly discovered a deleted video containing images of jurors leaving the courthouse.

That discovery became a central part of the prosecution’s case against her.

Light reportedly told police that she was waiting to record Lindsay Clancy leaving court.

But prosecutors allege that the circumstances went beyond simply trying to photograph the defendant.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Piacentini warned the court that the incident raised serious concerns about the integrity of the judicial process.

“IT WAS A COMPLETE MISUNDERSTANDING”

Light’s defense strongly disputes the suggestion that she intended to intimidate anyone.

Her attorney, Jennifer White, described the incident as a “misunderstanding,” saying Light was trying to get a photograph of Clancy rather than interact with or record jurors.

Light herself has also said she was attempting to capture Clancy leaving the courthouse.

In an interview before her arraignment, she reportedly explained that once she realized the people she had recorded were not Clancy, she lowered her phone.

“I don’t know how I intimidated anyone,” Light said, according to CT Insider.

She has described herself as a “crime junkie” and a supporter of Clancy, and has attended several days of the closely watched trial.

Her previous interest in high-profile criminal cases reportedly included the trials of Alex Murdaugh and Karen Read.

THE JURY WAS ALREADY AT A BREAKING POINT

The controversy came at an especially sensitive moment.

The jury deciding Lindsay Clancy’s case had already spent several days deliberating and twice told Judge William Sullivan that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

The judge subsequently issued a so-called Tuey-Rodriguez, or “dynamite,” instruction encouraging jurors to continue discussing the case and reconsider their positions without abandoning their honest convictions.

Before deliberations resumed Wednesday, Judge Sullivan questioned the jurors individually after Light’s arrest.

The jurors were asked whether anything they had seen or experienced affected their ability to remain fair and impartial.

They were then sent back to continue deliberating.

The episode also prompted the judge to remind people inside the courthouse that photographing or recording jurors was prohibited.

LIGHT RELEASED — BUT WITH STRICT CONDITIONS

Light was released without having to post cash bail.

However, the judge imposed strict restrictions while the case proceeds.

She was ordered to stay away from the courthouse and court grounds, as well as from jurors and witnesses connected with the Clancy proceedings.

She was also ordered not to publish or distribute any photographs or recordings of jurors that might remain in cloud storage or elsewhere.

Light has no known prior criminal record, according to her defense, and her attorney emphasized that she is retired and living on a fixed income.

She is scheduled to return to court on October 15.

A CASE ALREADY UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE

The allegation against Light has added another extraordinary layer to an already emotionally charged trial.

Lindsay Clancy, a former labor-and-delivery nurse, is accused of the 2023 deaths of her three young children.

Clancy’s defense has argued that she was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis and should not be held criminally responsible.

Prosecutors have argued that she acted deliberately.

After more than five days of deliberations, the jury remained unable to reach a verdict as of Thursday morning, with deliberations set to continue. If the jurors ultimately cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge could declare a mistrial, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to pursue another trial.

And now, alongside the uncertainty over Clancy’s fate, Dawn Light faces a separate legal battle of her own.

What she says was simply an attempt to photograph a high-profile defendant is being treated by prosecutors as a potentially serious threat to the integrity of a jury.

For now, Light maintains that it was a misunderstanding.

The court will ultimately have to determine what actually happened outside the courthouse that afternoon — and whether the deleted footage was an innocent mistake or something more serious.