Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has offered “asylum” in his state to the lone juror whose vote prevented an acquittal in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, accusing the media of attempting to discredit the man after reports surfaced about allegations from his past.
The Republican governor defended the unidentified holdout after NBC Boston reported that he had once been charged in a domestic violence case and was under an active restraining order during his service on the jury in the high-profile triple-murder trial.
According to NBC Boston, the domestic violence charge was ultimately dismissed.
DeSantis argued that the outlet was singling out the juror because he declined to join the other 11 panel members in finding Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
“A man objected to allowing a woman to kill her three young kids and get away with it, so NBC is trying to smear that juror, whose identity should be protected,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“Another low for legacy media.”
The Florida governor then extended an invitation to the juror, writing: “If the juror is being harassed, Florida will provide asylum – I’m sure he’d be welcomed and appreciated.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the Clancy trial’s holdout juror could seek “asylum” in Florida if he faces harassment in the wake of the explosive mistrial.
In his post, DeSantis accused NBC of trying to “smear” the unidentified juror following reports about troubling allegations in his background.
The unnamed juror was the only dissenter in an 11-1 split over whether Lindsay Clancy should be found not guilty because of mental disease or defect.
Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, was charged with killing her three young children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, at the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023.
She admitted killing the children, but her attorneys argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for her actions.
After seven grueling days of deliberations, the jury remained split 11-1, with the holdout refusing to join his colleagues in returning a not-guilty verdict on the grounds of mental disease or defect.
Judge William Sullivan ultimately declared a mistrial on September 4.
The juror’s role in the deadlock has since come under intense scrutiny, particularly after fellow panel members began publicly describing what unfolded behind closed doors.
But DeSantis’s intervention came after that scrutiny took a dramatic new turn Friday, when NBC Boston published details about the holdout’s past.
The station reported that the man was charged in 2021 following an alleged confrontation with his then-wife.
According to a police report obtained by NBC10, the man’s then-13-year-old nephew called 911 and alleged that he saw his uncle grab the woman around the throat and throw her into a dresser.
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Clancy has not denied that she killed her three children, but argued she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity as she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time
The charge was subsequently dismissed and the couple later divorced.
NBC Boston reported that the same nephew obtained a restraining order against the man last year following another alleged confrontation.
DeSantis portrayed the investigation into the man’s background as an attempt to punish him for refusing to acquit Clancy.
In an affidavit cited by the TV station, the nephew accused his uncle of knocking him to the ground and repeatedly punching him.
The restraining order was reportedly still active when the man was selected for the Clancy jury.
The revelations have raised questions about the jury selection process because Massachusetts’ standard juror questionnaire asks prospective jurors whether they have been arrested or charged with a crime and whether they have been served with a court order.
It is not publicly known how the juror answered those questions.
His questionnaire is not a public record, and no determination has been made that he provided false information during jury selection.
Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months, were found strangled to death at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on January 24, 2023
The scrutiny intensified further with revelations about the juror’s financial problems.
His landlord told the Daily Mail that the man moved into a two-bedroom rental in March but soon stopped paying the $2,400-a-month rent.
‘He told me he was sorry, he was going through some stuff,’ the landlord said.
But he claimed the situation continued deteriorating as the debt mounted.
‘He lied about everything,’ the landlord alleged.
Court records reviewed by the Daily Mail show the landlord was awarded a default judgment of more than $12,000 in unpaid rent while the Clancy jury was deliberating.
The landlord said he intends to evict him.