Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney has asked a judge to investigate the phone records of the only juror who opposed acquitting her in the case, which ended in a mistrial this month.
Eleven of the 12 jurors were prepared last Friday to find Clancy not criminally responsible. But their inability to reach a unanimous decision left the judge with no choice but to declare a mistrial, keeping the case unresolved.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense disputed that Clancy strangled her children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan—in the family’s Massachusetts home in January 2023 before attempting to take her own life.
Defense lawyer Kevin Reddington portrayed Clancy as a devoted mother suffering from the rare psychiatric condition postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors, however, maintained that she understood her actions.
The lone holdout, 48-year-old Michael P. Desronvil, sided with prosecutors and said he had no doubt that Clancy was guilty—directly contradicting the conclusion reached by the other jurors.
Reddington is now asking Judge William Sullivan to review Desronvil’s mobile-phone metadata from the period when the jury was deliberating, according to a motion obtained by the New York Times.
The filing also seeks to question Desronvil about whether he was truthful during jury selection and whether he used his phone or accessed outside information while jurors were considering the case.
Reddington wants the questioning recorded and conducted with attorneys for both sides present.
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney wants a judge to examine the phone data of the sole juror who opposed acquitting her in the case, which ended in a mistrial this month
Michael P. Desronvil, the lone holdout juror, said last week that he had no doubts about Clancy’s guilt, rejecting the position taken by the other jurors
“The inquiry will not touch the substance of deliberations,” the motion states.
It remains uncertain whether the jury’s decision—or the circumstances surrounding the deadlock—could ultimately be challenged.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, acknowledged killing her three children but argued that she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time.
Eleven jurors accepted that explanation for the killings. Desronvil did not.
After the mistrial was declared, several jurors publicly accused Desronvil of refusing to seriously engage with their arguments. Some characterized his conduct as “arrogant.”
Paula Devlin, 65, told the Daily Mail that Desronvil’s explanations for his guilty vote “made no sense” when jurors challenged him. She also said he remained “quiet” for much of the weeklong deliberations.
According to Devlin, he appeared more concerned with controlling the tone of the group’s conversations than explaining why he remained convinced that Clancy was guilty.
Clancy admitted killing her three children but argued that postpartum psychosis left her legally insane at the time of the attacks
Juror Paula Devlin, 65, said Desronvil’s reasoning “made no sense” when questioned and that he remained “quiet” through much of the weeklong deliberations
“The main thing he focused on was that sometimes we would all want to talk at once, and that was very upsetting to him.
‘He would get upset and say, ”Listen to what she’s saying, listen to what he’s saying, be respectful’.”
‘We were trying to say to him, that sometimes somebody says something and they get lost in their thought or they can’t find the right word, and somebody else puts that word in there for them or finishes their thought, that’s how normal conversation works.
‘But when that would happen, he would get upset and just take all this time lecturing us about not being respectful.’
Devlin also claimed the holdout rarely fraternized with the group during the trial, instead preferring to speak to his wife or watch videos on his phone.
She said the 11 jurors who decided Clancy was not guilty of murder or manslaughter in the deaths of her kids felt ‘defeat’ and ‘anger’ when the mistrial was declared.
Meanwhile, the father of the three slain children, Patrick Clancy, revealed on Sunday that he suffered a panic attack and ended up needing medical treatment while giving grueling testimony at his ex-wife’s trial.
The grieving father sat down with 60 Minutes to share his heartbreak over the deaths of his three children Cora, five, Dawson, three and Callan, eight months old, as well as the toll that their mother’s trial took on him.
Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months, were found strangled to death at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on January 24, 2023
Patrick was one of the key witnesses in the case, testifying to Clancy’s spiraling mental health and describing the moment that he returned home to find his children dead.
Throughout his hours-long testimony, the Daily Mail saw the 38-year-old struggling to contain his emotions, physically trembling, taking deep breaths and wiping away tears as he relived the painful memories from that day in January 2023.
Speaking about the ordeal to 60 Minutes, Patrick shared that he had experienced a ‘massive, traumatic panic attack’ during a recess in proceedings inside Plymouth County Superior Court, Massachusetts.
‘We did take a break right before they played the 911 call, which I knew was going to be just horrific,’ he said.
‘And I went to a back room, and I started having this massive, traumatic panic attack. My heart was pounding.’
Patrick said he was put in an ambulance and offered medication, but turned it down, insisting he wanted to resume testifying.
‘I said “I don’t want it because I want to go back and I want to finish this so I can be done with this,”‘ he said of that moment. ‘And I went back and I finished the testimony.’