A Massachusetts judge denied a bid from Lindsay Clancy’s lawyers to have the murder charges against her dismissed, clearing the way for a second trial after the first ended in a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a consensus verdict.
“The court understands
the frustration of the defendant and the jurors that despite the utmost diligence, the jury ultimately was unable to reach a verdict in this emotionally grueling and complicated case,” Judge William Sullivan said on Monday in an order, per The New York Times.
Sullivan rejected the defense attorneys’ argument that a retrial would violate Clancy’s protection under the double jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, a legal rule that protects an accused person against being prosecuted twice for the same crime. They claimed the judge acted prematurely in declaring a mistrial and should have questioned the holdout juror who voted to convict Clancy.
Sullivan wrote on Monday that it would have been “impermissibly coercive” to question the sole holdout juror, Michael P. Desronvil, during the trial, and that the other jurors had indicated “a disagreement about the substance of deliberations,” not an issue with Desronvil’s ability to deliberate.”
The judge also rejected a bid from Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, to investigate the holdout. The attorney had requested permission to access Desronvil’s cellphone records, search data, and the confidential questionnaire that he had answered during jury selection. Sullivan said that the probe “would be an improper intrusion into this juror’s privacy and would serve to discourage citizens from being willing to serve as jurors in the future.”
In a small win for the defense, Sullivan issued a separate ruling rejecting the prosecution’s request for a gag order that would bar Clancy’s lawyers from speaking with the media about the case.
Last month, Sullivan dismissed a request from Clancy‘s legal team to find the mother not guilty of killing her three children after her high-profile case ended in a mistrial. Sullivan denied the lawyers’arguments that prosecutors failed to present enough evidenceduring the trial that Clancy murdered her three children — Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months — in January 2023.
Both parties are expected to meet early next week to discuss the next steps in the case.
Click here to read the full article.
