Lawyers for Lindsay Clancy have asked a Massachusetts judge to investigate the conduct of the lone juror who prevented a unanimous verdict in her murder trial over the deaths of her three children.
In a motion filed on Friday and made public on Monday, Clancy’s defence team asked the court to question juror Michael Desronvil about his alleged use of a mobile phone during jury deliberations, his answers on a pre-trial juror questionnaire and statements made when jurors were questioned by the judge.
Phone use during jury deliberations is prohibited in Massachusetts. Defence lawyer Kevin Reddington has asked the court to obtain records of calls or text messages made by Desronvil between 8am and 4.30pm on each day of deliberations.
The trial ended in a mistrial on 4 September after the 12-member jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Eleven jurors were prepared to find Clancy not criminally responsible, while Desronvil maintained that she knew what she was doing when she killed her children, according to the Associated Press report published by the Guardian.
Desronvil has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with his jury service. His lawyer, Edward Paltzik, said in a statement last week that Desronvil “didn’t have any doubts” that Clancy knew what she was doing when she killed her children.
Clancy’s lawyers have also filed a separate motion asking the judge to dismiss the criminal case rather than allow a new trial. They argue that the mistrial should not have been declared and that the holdout juror should have been replaced by an alternate juror during deliberations.
The defence motion followed a complaint from the jury foreperson that one juror was refusing to follow the law on reasonable doubt. The judge ultimately declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked.
Prosecutors have not said whether they intend to put Clancy on trial again. She remains charged with murder and is in a psychiatric hospital while the case is unresolved.
The judge is being asked to consider the defence motions as the next stage of the case unfolds. The allegations concerning the juror remain matters for the court to assess, and Desronvil has not been found to have committed misconduct.
Source: The Guardian
