Clancy Lawyers Seek Probe of Holdout Juror, Move to Dismiss Case

Lawyers for Lindsay Clancy have asked a judge to examine the conduct of the single juror who favored convicting the Massachusetts mother in the deaths of her three children, according to motions filed Friday and made public Monday.

The defense wants the court to question the juror, Michael Desronvil, about his alleged use of a cellphone during deliberations, his answers on a pre-trial juror questionnaire, and his truthfulness when the judge questioned jurors a day before the trial concluded. Among the requests, Clancy's lawyer Kevin Reddington asked the court to obtain records of any calls or texts Desronvil made between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on each day of deliberations. Phone use during deliberations is barred in the state.

The judge declared a mistrial on Sept. 4 after the jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict despite days of effort. Eleven of the 12 jurors were prepared to find Clancy not criminally responsible, with most concluding she was in the grip of a rare condition known as postpartum psychosis when she strangled her children. Desronvil sided with prosecutors, who argued Clancy understood her actions.

In a separate motion Monday, the defense urged the judge to take the unusual step of dismissing the case instead of holding a new trial, arguing that a mistrial should not have been declared in the first place. They contended the judge should have swapped the holdout juror for an alternate during deliberations after a jury foreperson told the judge that one juror was refusing to follow the law on reasonable doubt.

A spokesperson for Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz declined to comment on the motions. Prosecutors have not said whether they will retry Clancy, who remains charged with murder and is being held in a psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved.

Desronvil has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with his jury service, though other jurors complained he was inflexible in his view that Clancy was guilty. In a statement released last week by his lawyer, Edward Paltzik, Desronvil said he "didn't have any doubts" that Clancy knew what she was doing when she killed her three children.