Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Slapped Down by Judge For Trying to Investigate Holdout Juror and Examine His Phone

The defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy faced a legal setback after a judge tossed his request to have the case’s holdout juror investigated.

Clancy killed her three children in January 2023 and then botched her suicide attempt, which left her paralyzed. During her murder trial last month, 11 jurors wanted to declare Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity.

Juror Michael Desronvil did not go along, and after the mistrial was declared, he faced a deluge of attacks from reporters and Clancy’s coven of fans.

Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, sought to capitalize on the mood of the hour and make Desronvil the focus of a hearing.

Not happening.

On Wednesday, Judge William Sullivan threw out the request, according to Fox News.

“Clancy seeks an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Juror Doe lied on the jury questionnaire about prior involvement with the criminal justice system,” Sullivan wrote.

“However, potential evidence of good cause to dismiss a deliberating juror that came to light only after a mistrial was declared simply is not relevant to whether there was a manifest necessity for a mistrial,” Sullivan wrote.

“Prior to the declaration of a mistrial, defense counsel raised no suggestion that Juror Doe had lied on the questionnaire. That information appears to have originated in post-trial media reports,” Sullivan wrote.

“Because post-trial information potentially affecting Juror Doe’s impartiality cannot be used to attack the determination that a mistrial was manifestly necessary, Clancy is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on that issue,” he wrote.

“A similar analysis applies to the argument that there may have been grounds to replace Juror Doe with an alternate based on Juror Doe’s cellphone use which may suggest exposure to extraneous evidence,” he added.

“Prior to the declaration of a mistrial, defense counsel raised no suggestion that Juror Doe had been exposed to extraneous evidence or improperly used a cellphone during deliberations,” Sullivan wrote.

In the request to subject Desronvil to his own inquisition, Reddington argued that failure to go with the crowd was the equivalent of disobeying the judge’s orders during the trial.

But Sullivan made clear, “This Court concludes that any further judicial inquiry is inappropriate, given the mandate that the court must not delve into a juror’s subjective reasoning, thought process, view of the case, or relationship to the other jurors, and must not inquire into the jury’s deliberative content, collective thought process, or any disagreement among the jury.”

Desronvil has said he never used his phone improperly, and that he followed all instructions from the judge, but came to a different conclusion than did the rest of the jury.

Clancy’s motion to dismiss the charges against her will be argued in court on Nov. 2, according to the New York Post.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a new trial or make a deal with Clancy’s legal team that could involve reducing the charges against her.

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