PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy returned to court Monday in a bid to dismiss the charges that she murdered her three young children.
The hearing Monday was the second time the Massachusetts mother has been in court since her trial ended with a deadlocked jury in September after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict. Its focus was a motion from the defense to dismiss the charges on double jeopardy grounds.
The proceedings grew heated as defense attorney Kevin Reddington urged the judge to investigate the lone holdout juror, alleging that he had used a cellphone to research terms related to the case and questioning whether he had been truthful during jury selection. Judge William Sullivan repeatedly intervened as Reddington publicly identified the juror and raised allegations involving potentially confidential information. The two raised their voices and spoke over each other as Reddington pushed back, saying that the name was already “all over the internet,” but eventually stopped using it.
“Why don’t we all dial this back a little bit,” Sullivan said at one point, calling the attorneys to a sidebar after prosecutors objected to Reddington’s comments.
Sullivan did not immediately rule on the motion to dismiss.
Clancy has never disputed killing her three young children in 2023, but her lawyer has argued she had postpartum psychosis and was unable to control her behavior. Prosecutors have acknowledged that the 36-year-old Clancy had mental health problems but said she acted deliberately and understood her actions were wrong.
Defense challenges judge’s handling of deadlocked jury
At Monday's hearing, defense attorney Martin G. Weinberg argued that Sullivan should have investigated further after the jury foreperson sent two notes indicating that a juror was not following the rules. Further questioning could have revealed grounds to remove the lone holdout juror, Michael Desronvil, and continue deliberations — potentially avoiding the mistrial, he said.
After receiving the notes, Sullivan spoke with each juror, reminded them of their duties and explained what constitutes reasonable doubt. He asked whether they could apply the law to the case, and all said yes.
But Weinberg argued that the situation warranted questioning the foreperson separately to learn more about what was happening during deliberations.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued that Sullivan had struck the right balance in his handling of the jury. Pressing the foreperson further would have required delving into the substance of the jury’s deliberations, potentially inserting the court’s “interpretation of what is correct” into the process.
“You were the one who looked them in the eyes and asked them the questions and was in the best position to judge their credibility,” she told Sullivan. “And you credited their answers.”
Prosecutors defend decision to declare mistrial
Since the trial ended, Desronvil said he was certain of Clancy’s guilt but that no one would listen to him.
Prosecutors argue that double jeopardy “does not bar the Commonwealth from seeking justice on behalf of the three victims.”
They argue it was unnecessary to investigate Desronvil, whom they don’t name but describe as the dissenting juror, because the foreperson’s complaint did not allege “any personal issue, bias, or extraneous matter attributable to the dissenting juror.” Singling that juror out, they argued, for an investigation “surely would have led to judicial coercion” and the “impermissible intrusion into the substance of the jury’s private deliberations.”
In court Monday, Reddington alleged Desronvil had used a cellphone to research terms related to the case and that he wasn’t truthful about his criminal history during jury selection — something that, if true, would be “a fatal infection of the independence, the honesty and the integrity of this juror.”
Heather O’Connor, an attorney representing Desronvil, said the defense had an opportunity to question the juror before trial, accepted him and began challenging his credibility only after he became the lone holdout.
She also disputed the cellphone allegations, saying all jurors were allowed to keep their phones and that the account cited by the defense described Desronvil scrolling on his phone, not researching information about the case.
“We are here because Juror Doe did not vote the way that the defense needed,” she said.
“If that’s enough to put a juror under oath, to search their phone, to pull their history, then the lesson every future juror in this Commonwealth is simple: Agree with the majority or potentially be investigated,” she said.
Prosecutors have requested a gag order restricting public statements by attorneys and their supporters that could prejudice future proceedings. Reddington has given numerous interviews and held near-daily news conferences during the trial, while prosecutors did not speak to reporters. Clancy’s lawyers oppose the request, arguing it would amount to an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech, particularly because no new trial date has been set.
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AP journalist Leah Willingham contributed from Boston.