Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney asked the Massachusetts judge presiding over the high-profile criminal case to investigate the lone holdout juror over his alleged cellphone use during jury deliberations.
Michael Desronvil, the sole juror responsible for causing a mistrial earlier this month, is the subject of lawyer Kevin Reddington’s inquiry.
Reddington asked Judge William Sullivan to seek information regarding whether Desronvil made any calls or texts between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on each day the jury deliberated. In Massachusetts, using a cellphone during the trial or jury deliberations is strictly prohibited. The deliberations lasted for seven days, resulting in no verdict due to a hung jury.
The lawyer also asked the state judge to investigate Desronvil’s answers on a questionnaire that prospective jurors filled out before the trial and his responses when the holdout juror was questioned by the judge a day before the trial ended.
Desronvil has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the defense is trying to make sure he judged Clancy fairly and was not sharing information with anyone outside the court.
Clancy was tried for the murders of her three young children, whom she shared with Patrick Clancy, who has since remarried. The defendant did not dispute killing them at the family’s home in January 2023, but her attorneys argued she should not be held criminally responsible because she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time. Her youngest child was 8 months old.
Unlike the other 11 jurors, Desronvil believes Clancy was criminally responsible for the killings.
“I didn’t have any doubts,” he said in a public statement shared by his lawyer. “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. Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presented, I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned.”
Nick Dargie, another juror who has spoken out publicly since the mistrial, said Desronvil did not present any witness testimony or evidence to back up his opinion. Dargie also claimed his fellow juror would be “scrolling on his phone” during deliberations.
The defense is set to argue the motion at a Sept. 29 hearing, when the judge will decide the next steps in the case.
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In a separate motion, Martin Weinberg, one of Clancy’s other defense attorneys, asked Sullivan to dismiss the criminal case on the grounds that it should not have been declared a mistrial and that any retrial would violate Clancy’s double-jeopardy protections.
Reddington previously said he was open to a plea deal with state prosecutors, but he noted that he does not want a deal that results in prison time for his client.