The defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three children, has asked a judge to investigate a juror following the mistrial of the case. Attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion requesting the court examine the mobile phone use and questionnaire responses of "Juror Doe" during deliberations.
The proceedings against Clancy ended in a mistrial on November 16 when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Clancy has not denied killing her children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, at their Massachusetts home in January 2023. Her defense argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity, contending she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors maintained Clancy planned the killings, sending her husband on an errand to create an opportunity.
Reddington’s motion, filed Friday, seeks to review calls and texts made by the juror between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM local time on deliberation days. He also requested an examination of the juror's truthfulness during the jury selection process and in his prospective juror questionnaires.
A lawyer for Michael Desronvil, the sole juror who reportedly favored a guilty verdict, called the defense motion a "Looney Tunes" attack on his client for fulfilling his civic duty. Desronvil has stated there was "enough proof that she [Clancy] knew exactly what she was doing." He has since hired an attorney to represent him amid backlash for his stance.
According to a media interview with the jury forewoman, Desronvil had expressed reasonable doubt about Clancy's guilt, which legally would require a not-guilty finding. He denies this. The forewoman, a retired fifth-grade teacher, stated that Desronvil admitted to having reasonable doubt but refused to find Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity.
Several jurors indicated after the trial that the jury was divided 11-1 in favor of finding Clancy not criminally responsible. Desronvil told CBS News that he was repeatedly cut off when trying to explain different theories during deliberations, suggesting others assumed he had doubts based on the evidence presented.
In a separate motion, Reddington also asked for the case against Clancy to be dismissed. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they intend to retry her. This development follows the mistrial declared after the jury's deadlock, which highlighted the deep divisions in the assessment of Clancy's mental state at the time of the killings.