Massachusetts prosecutors have yet to decide whether Lindsay Clancy will face a second trial, as the lone juror who opposed an insanity verdict urged the public to remember the three “angels” who died.
The former labor and delivery nurse, 36, has remained in a psychiatric hospital since Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial in her case earlier this month.
Clancy appeared Tuesday in Plymouth County Superior Court wearing a short-sleeve blouse and her hair in loose waves. Her lawyers and prosecutors debated how to move forward in a case that has attracted international attention.
The hearing ended without a ruling from Sullivan. Instead, he ordered both sides to return on November 2 to discuss a possible trial date and several motions connected to Clancy’s first trial.
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz told CBS Boston afterward that prosecutors have not determined whether to retry the mother of three over the strangulation deaths of five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan.
Cruz said his office is waiting for the court to resolve the pending motions, while continuing to prepare as if a second trial will take place.
“We’re doing a very thorough review right now,” Cruz said. “And we’re going to continue to do our job and make sure we do what’s best in the interest of justice and the interest of the three children.”
His remarks came hours after the juror who refused to find Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity spoke publicly. As her defense team challenges his conduct, he said he wanted attention returned to Clancy’s “three angels.”
Lindsay Clancy, 36, appeared Tuesday in Plymouth County Superior Court as her attorneys and Massachusetts prosecutors debated the next steps in her case
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said prosecutors have not decided whether to retry the mother of three
“I know the whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels—the ones who cannot speak for themselves, defend themselves or fight their battles. Those are Cora, Dawson and Callan,” Michael Desronvil said in a video statement broadcast by Fox News on Monday night.
Desronvil also thanked God for giving him the ability to love his daughter and expressed appreciation for the people who have supported him.
“Your prayers, your emotional support, your psychological support, are tremendous to my heart—I feel it, I sense it, I know it. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,” Desronvil said.
Desronvil’s involvement in the trial was among several issues examined Tuesday, after defense attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion seeking to dismiss the charges.
Reddington contended that Sullivan did not adequately question the holdout juror or investigate allegations raised by the jury foreperson before declaring a mistrial.
The defense attorney argued that a more detailed inquiry could have prevented the mistrial.
Reddington further maintained that trying Clancy again would violate double-jeopardy protections, and asked the judge to dismiss the case entirely.
Michael Desronvil broke his silence Monday in a video statement shared with Hannity
Clancy was charged with murder after her three children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan—were strangled in 2023
Before Sullivan declared the mistrial, the jury foreperson sent two messages accusing the then-unidentified holdout of expressing reasonable doubt but refusing to apply that doubt under the law.
At the time, Reddington called for the holdout to be struck from the case or to at least face further questioning.
Judge Sullivan refused and hours later, when the jury returned deadlocked again, a mistrial was declared.
Desronvil has said through his attorney Edward Paltzik that he has ‘zero doubt’ about Clancy’s guilt, based on what he described as ‘mountains of evidence.’
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Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Desronvil’s newly-appointed lawyer Heather O’Connor said she now opposes efforts by the defense team to further inquire about her client – including their request to access records from his cellphone in an apparent attempt to determine whether he was using it during jury deliberations, according to The New York Times.
She also insisted Desronvil was honest when he filled out a jury questionnaire that asked him whether he had ever been arrested or charged with a crime.
Desronvil had been charged with a misdemeanor in 2021, after his wife claimed he grabbed her by the throat and threw her against a dresser.
But the charge was later dismissed, and O’Connor said it did not prevent him from serving on the jury.
Desronvil has said through his attorney Edward Paltzik that he has ‘zero doubt’ about Clancy’s guilt, based on what he described as ‘mountains of evidence’
She went on to say that her client just wants privacy for himself and justice for Clancy’s three children.
‘He’s the only one being targeted here because his decision and his vote was different than everyone else’s. People should not have to worry – just as the commonwealth said – jurors should not have to worry about coming in and having them outed because they take a stance different than everyone else,’ she said.
The motion to investigate Desronvil was ultimately tabled, as was the defense motion to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds and a newly-filed motion from prosecutors requesting a gag order preventing Reddington from speaking out about the case.
Judge Sullivan said he will also take into advisement Reddington’s new argument in court that there is no evidence Clancy killed her children.
‘This entire case is based on speculation. Where is the admission? Where did she say that she did this?’ Reddington asked in court on Tuesday.
He noted there was no blood on Clancy’s socks after she cut herself and leaped from the bedroom window and claimed that when she woke from a coma, she had no memory of killing her children. Instead, she was simply told by police that she had killed her children despite there being issues with the timeline of that day, he argued.
‘It wasn’t even a horrendous investigation. There was no investigation,’ the lawyer claimed.
Because of the shoddy investigation, the state had no probable cause that she was even the perpetrator of the crime, he argued.
Attorney Kevin Reddington astonishingly argued in court on Tuesday that there is no evidence Clancy killed her children
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham branded his comments ‘laughable,’ saying this was the first time the defense had made this claim.
The defense team had previously said that Clancy admitted to killing the children, but argued at her first trial that she should be found not guilty of murder or manslaughter because she was suffering from post-partum psychosis at the time.
But Reddington said outside the courthouse that the argument Clancy did not kill her children is ‘not new rocket science by any means.
‘It’s the fact that they cannot prove probable cause,’ he argued.
Reddington further claimed there is not sufficient evidence to prove the 36-year-old is criminally responsible for the killings.
In an insanity case in Massachusetts, the state must prove someone is criminally responsible through two points: whether the person was suffering a mental defect or disease at the time, and, if they were, whether they could still control their actions or conform to the law despite this mental illness.
Because the state failed to show evidence to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, Reddington argued, the judge must enter a finding of not guilty on all charges.
Firing back, Buckingham argued that a defendant who suffers from mental illness can commit crimes and still be criminally responsible.