Lindsay Clancy's attorney asks judge to investigate the lone juror who wanted to convict her
BOSTON (AP) — A lawyer for Lindsay Clancy is asking a judge to investigate the conduct of the lone juror who wanted to convict the mother from Massachusetts of murder in the deaths of her three young children.
In a motion filed Friday but made public Monday, Clancy's lawyer asked the court to question juror Michael Desronvil about his alleged use of a cellphone during deliberations, his truthfulness on a questionnaire that prospective jurors filled out before the trial began and his truthfulness when jurors were questioned by the judge a day before the trial ended.
Among other things, lawyer Kevin Reddington asked the court to obtain a record of any calls or texts Desronvil made between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on each day the jury deliberated. Phone use during deliberations is prohibited in the state.
Reddington is calling for the motion to be heard at the next scheduled hearing on Sept. 29.
The judge declared a mistrial Sept. 4 after the jury insisted it couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, despite days of trying. Eleven of 12 jurors were ready to clear Clancy of criminal responsibility, with the majority feeling that she was in the grip of a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids.
But Desronvil sided with the prosecutors, who had argued that Clancy knew what she was doing.
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“I didn’t have any doubts,” Desronvil said in a statement released on the social platform X by his lawyer, Edward Paltzik.
The jury’s foreperson had claimed in an earlier media interview that Desronvil had admitted having “reasonable doubt” about Clancy’s guilt but wanted to convict her anyway. Desronvil said that wasn’t true.
“As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented,” he wrote. “Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presented, I thought it was enough proof that (Clancy) knew exactly what she was doing."
Desronvil hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with his service on the jury, though other jurors complained that he was inflexible in his opinion that Clancy was guilty.
Since the trial ended, Desronvil has been both publicly praised and scorned for his actions, and his personal life and past financial and legal problems have become the subject of scrutiny by the news media and amateur sleuths.
Among the public revelations: He had a restraining order against him at the time of jury selection and was facing eviction from his apartment due to over $12,000 in unpaid rent. He also was accused of domestic violence in 2021, a charge that was later dismissed.
He also has been embraced by those who feel Clancy should be found guilty. A fundraiser to cover what organizers say are costs of “security, lawyers, and lost work” for Desronvil has raised nearly $375,000.
Prosecutors have yet to say whether they plan on putting Clancy on trial again. She remains charged with murder and is in a psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved.
In another motion on Monday, another lawyer for Clancy, Martin Weinberg, asked the judge to take the unusual step of dismissing the criminal case, rather than putting on a new trial, on the grounds that a mistrial shouldn't have been declared in the first place.
Weinberg argued that the judge should have replaced the holdout juror with an alternate during the deliberations after a jury foreperson complained to the judge that one juror was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.
“Contrary to the court’s stated believe at the time, it did have viable choices other than declaring a mistrial,” Weinberg wrote.
That follows an earlier motion filed by Clancy's legal team arguing that Clancy shouldn’t be tried a second time because prosecutors don’t have enough evidence.
Under Massachusetts law, prosecutors had to prove either that Clancy did not have a mental disease or defect or that, despite having one, she retained the capacity to know what she was doing when she strangled her kids.
Reddington argued in Thursday’s court filing that prosecutors proved neither.
A spokesperson for Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz would not comment on the motions.
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