Lindsay Clancy’s Attorney Requests Investigation Into Holdout Juror

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney has asked the judge to conduct a “limited inquiry” into the holdout juror who wanted Clancy convicted of murdering her three children.

In a motion filed Sept. 18, lawyer Kevin Reddington asked Judge William Sullivan to review the juror’s truthfulness on a questionnaire and alleged use of a cellphone during deliberations. He did not identify the juror.

Reddington also sought a court order requiring the juror’s cellphone carrier to provide call and text detail records and data-session logs from Aug. 27 through Sept. 4, covering each deliberation day, and directing the juror to submit his cellphone to a neutral examiner designated by the court.

The lawyer asked the court to provide under seal juror information it obtained, details of any background checks it conducted, and whether the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office has handled any case involving the juror as a defendant or complainant.

Clancy was on trial after admitting to strangling her children – a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and an 8-month-old – with exercise bands in the basement of her Massachusetts home in January 2023. Her lawyers argued that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and sought a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.

On Sept. 4, Sullivan declared a mistrial in the murder trial after the jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Eleven of the 12 jurors favored finding Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility for the deaths of her children. The defense team asked Sullivan to remove the holdout juror, but he rejected the request.

The court has not publicly identified the holdout juror, but he later identified himself as Michael Péguy Desronvil in a Sept. 18 statement posted by his lawyer.

Desronvil, the lone black juror and one of three males on the jury, said he “didn’t have any doubts” that Clancy was criminally responsible for her children’s death.

“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 said in the statement.

“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 and planned.”

Desronvil’s extended family has been hounded by the public since the trial. His attorney, Edward Andrew Paltzik, has urged the public to respect the juror’s privacy.

“Please respect his dignity, humanity, and privacy. Stay away from his home, stop calling him, and don’t even think about deciphering his location,” Paltzik said on X.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said on Sept. 4 that his team had not yet decided whether to pursue a second trial. The next hearing is set for Sept. 29.