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The lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial is speaking out, saying that he “didn’t have any doubts” during the jury’s deliberations of the case which ended in a mistrial.
“I didn’t have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence present,” the 48-year-old male juror, Michael P Desronvil, said in a statement to NewsNation on Thursday.
“Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she (Clancy) knew exactly what she was doing and planned,” he added.
Desronvil’s public statement follows widespread debate online over the controversial case about whether Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse who fatally strangled her three children in Massachusetts in 2023, should be held criminally responsible.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges by reason of insanity, with her defense team arguing that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.
The trial, which brought nationwide attention to systemic gaps in maternal mental health care, lasted nearly six weeks and culminated in a mistrial after nearly 40 hours of deliberation over seven days.
Several members of the 11-1 deadlocked jury, which comprised nine women and three men, have since publicly commented on the case.
Speaking to NBC10 earlier this month, Roni Carlson, the jury’s foreperson, said the single holdout juror “admitted he had reasonable doubt, and I started filling out the forms, I was so excited”.
“There were three forms I had to fill out and I started filling them out, I wrote my signature on each one, and then he said, ‘But I’m still not going to say that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity,’” she added.
Another juror, Kellie Farina, said: “He had the hardest time getting off the fact that Lindsay viciously killed her children … Every one of us in the hours of our frustration would get up and walk the room because you just couldn’t sit anymore.”
Meanwhile, juror Paula Devlin said: “He was very arrogant,” adding: “He really did not take anything that anybody said.”
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Desronvil’s lawyer, Edward Andrew Paltzik, has publicly defended his client, describing Desronvil as an “American hero and champion of justice” who will “not be giving any interviews at this time”.
In a Friday statement on X, Paltzik said: “Any attempts to contact our Heroic Lone Holdout Juror will not be well-taken. Please respect his dignity, humanity, and privacy. Stay away from his home, stop calling him, and don’t even think about deciphering his location.”
Since the mistrial, Desronvil’s personal legal issues have come to light, raising questions over the jury selection process.
Numerous outlets, including NBC10 and the Boston Globe, report that he has a past domestic violence charge from 2021 and an active civil restraining order for allegedly assaulting his nephew, and was facing eviction proceedings while deliberating the Clancy case.
Plymouth district attorney Timothy Cruz has not yet publicly stated whether he will retry Clancy while Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has said he will ask for the jury to be sequestered in a new trial.
Judge William F Sullivan has set a hearing for 29 September to determine next steps.
