The lone juror who wanted to convict Lindsay Clancy of murder for killing her three children said he was certain of her guilt, but that other jurors wouldn't listen to him, according to a statement released by his lawyer in his first public comments on the case.
Eleven of 12 jurors were ready to clear Clancy of criminal responsibility, with the majority feeling that the Massachusetts mother was in the grip of a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids. But juror Michael Desronvil sided with the prosecutors, who had argued that Clancy knew what she was doing.
“I didn’t have any doubts,” Desronvil said in a statement released on X by his lawyer, Edward Paltzik.
The jury's foreperson had claimed in an earlier media interview that Desronvil had admitted having “reasonable doubt” about Clancy's guilt, but wanted to convict her anyway. Desronvil said that wasn't true.
“As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented,” he wrote. “Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presented, I thought it was enough proof that she (Clancy) knew exactly what she was doing and planned.”
The jury's deadlock forced the judge to declare a mistrial on September 4, leaving the case unresolved. The Plymouth County district attorney has yet to say whether he'll seek to put Clancy on trial again.
Neither side disputed that Clancy strangled her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, in the family’s home in 2023 before trying to end her own life. But her attorney said she was a loving mother experiencing deep delusions and other mental health problems, for which she had been getting treatment.
Since the trial ended, Desronvil has been both publicly praised and scorned for his actions, and his personal life and past financial and legal problems have become the subject of scrutiny by the news media and amateur sleuths.
Among the public revelations: He had a restraining order against him at the time of jury selection and was facing eviction from his apartment due to over US$12,000 in unpaid rent. He was also accused of domestic violence in 2021, a charge that was later dismissed.
Some of the opinion has fallen along political lines, with Desronvil being praised by some conservative pundits as a hero.
Paltzik, whose past clients have included President Donald Trump and Martin Shkreli, said on X that Desronvil was in “an undisclosed secure location” in a rural part of northern New England and would not be giving interviews.
“As a devoted father and man of God, he will not be defeated or shattered by the wicked who wish harm upon him,” Paltzik wrote.
A fundraiser to cover what organisers say are costs of “security, lawyers, and lost work” for Desronvil has raised over US$289,000.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has rolled out the welcome mat for him, saying that if he is being harassed, “Florida will provide asylum”.
“I’m sure he’d be welcomed and appreciated,” DeSantis wrote on X.
SHARE ME