Lindsay Clancy murder retrial looms after judge rejects dismissal bids
A Massachusetts judge denied two key motions by Lindsay Clancy, clearing the path for a second murder trial over the deaths of her three children.
Judge clears path for second murder trial in Lindsay Clancy case
A Massachusetts judge on Monday rejected two major legal motions filed by Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three children, nypost.com reports. The rulings by Judge William Sullivan make a second murder trial likely, potentially as early as spring.
Judge Sullivan dismissed the defence argument that double jeopardy barred the case from proceeding again after the first trial ended in a mistrial. Clancy's legal team had argued that the case should be dropped entirely, but Sullivan found those arguments unpersuasive.
The original trial collapsed over a single holdout juror who refused to vote for acquittal. The foreperson sent a note to the court during deliberations indicating that the juror would not apply the reasonable doubt standard as instructed. Clancy's lawyers argued that the judge should have questioned that juror more thoroughly and potentially removed him, which could have allowed the remaining panel to reach a verdict.
Sullivan ruled that any deeper questioning of the holdout juror would have risked coercing him and interfering with the deliberation process. "Based on the imperative to avoid intrusion into the substance of deliberations and to avoid jury coercion, the court, in its discretion, concluded that it was inappropriate to investigate by questioning the holdout juror about any doubt Juror Doe harboured," the judge wrote.
Sullivan also denied Clancy's separate request for access to the juror's pre-trial questionnaire and records related to a prior arrest. "Clancy has failed to explain how materials showing alleged misconduct by Juror Doe are relevant to any retrial of the murder indictments in front of a different jury," he wrote in that ruling.
The holdout juror has since been publicly identified as Michael Desronvil, who has stated he had "zero doubt" about Clancy's guilt.
The key remaining question is whether Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz will retry the 36-year-old on the original first-degree murder charges or opt to pursue second-degree murder charges instead. No date for the retrial has been set.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)