Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney wants a judge to examine one juror’s phone records. That juror’s spokesperson says other members of the jury deserve the same scrutiny.
Attorney Kevin Reddington filed a motion asking Judge William Sullivan to review the mobile phone metadata of Michael P. Desronvil.
The request covers the window when jurors deliberated, according to a filing the New York Times reviewed.
Desronvil, 48, was the only juror who declined to clear Clancy. Reddington also wants Sullivan to question him about the truthfulness of statements he made during jury selection.
The judge would also ask about any use of his phone or outside information while deliberations continued.
Reddington asked that the questioning happen on the record, with attorneys from both sides present. “The inquiry will not touch the substance of deliberations,” the motion reads.
Desronvil’s camp has answered with allegations of its own.
Spokesperson Ray Marcel told NewsNation reporter Brian Entin that several jurors violated court orders by using their cellphones to research the case.
Marcel described the deliberation room to Entin. He said “everybody had their phones on them… there were jurors who were posting on social media, allegedly, while deliberations were going on”.
He also addressed whether jurors were permitted to keep the devices. “I don’t know if they were allowed their phones, but they weren’t taken away,” Marcel added.
Court rules require jurors to reach a verdict based solely on what they see and hear in the courtroom. Certain information is inadmissible. Researching a trial can taint a juror’s view, so the practice is strictly prohibited.
The dispute follows a mistrial. Last Friday, eleven of the twelve jurors stood ready to clear Clancy of criminal responsibility.
Desronvil sided with prosecutors and said he held no doubts about her guilt. The deadlock forced the judge to declare a mistrial and left the case unresolved.
Neither side contested the central facts. Clancy strangled her three children at the family’s Massachusetts home on January 24, 2023, and then tried to end her own life.
Her victims were five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan.
The trial turned on her state of mind. Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, did not deny killing the children.
Her defense argued she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because she suffered from postpartum psychosis when the killings happened.
Reddington told jurors his client was a loving mother in the grip of that rare condition. Prosecutors argued she knew what she was doing.
Eleven jurors accepted the defense characterization. Desronvil rejected it.
Since the mistrial, several of those jurors have accused him publicly of refusing to engage meaningfully with their arguments. Some have called him “arrogant.”
Juror Paula Devlin, 65, gave the Daily Mail her own account. She said Desronvil made “no sense” when colleagues pressed him for his reasons.
She said he remained “quiet” for most of the week-long deliberations.
According to Devlin, he spent his energy on the manner of the discussion. “The main thing he focused on is sometimes we would all want to talk at once, and that was very upsetting to him,” she said.
She recalled how he responded. “He would get upset and say, ‘Listen to what she’s saying, listen to what he’s saying, be respectful’.”
Devlin said the holdout rarely socialized with fellow jurors during the trial. He preferred to speak with his wife or watch videos on his phone, she claimed.
The eleven jurors who voted not guilty of murder or manslaughter felt “defeat” and “anger” when the judge declared the mistrial, she said.
It remains unclear whether the jury’s decision could be reversed.
The children’s father, Patrick Clancy, spoke with 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday.
He revealed that he suffered a panic attack and needed medical treatment while giving testimony at his ex-wife’s trial.
