Holdout Juror in Lindsay Clancy Trial Breaks His Silence: ‘I Didn’t Have Any Doubts’

The holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial spoke out this week, confirming that he was convinced she was criminally responsible for the murder of her children. 

“I didn’t have any doubts,” Michael Péguy Desronvil said in a Sep. 18 statement posted by his attorney on social media.

Desronvil’s refusal to side with the other jurors prevented Clancy’s acquittal, possibly setting the case up for a second trial. The next hearing on the matter is set for Sept. 29. 

Clancy was on trial after admitting to strangling her three children—ages 5, 3, and 8 months—in January 2023. Her defense team argued that the slayings were the result of postpartum psychosis, and that she was not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Eleven out of 12 jurors voted to let her go, but were unable to convince the holdout to change his vote. 

Desronvil, the lone black juror and one of three males, was also in danger of being kicked off the jury after the foreperson sent the judge a note detailing concerns about the deliberation. Clancy attorney Kevin Reddington said the note revealed that one juror had reasonable doubt but refused to find Clancy not guilty.

Desronvil’s statement on Friday disputed that narrative.  

“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. 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.” 

After six full days of deliberation, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Sept. 4. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has not said whether his team will pursue a second trial.

Nevertheless, the note led the judge to call the jurors to his bench, one by one, and question them on whether they were willing to apply reasonable doubt as the law demanded. Clancy’s attorneys also appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, asking it to replace the holdout juror. After a brief hearing, the appeal was denied.

The statement follows weeks of speculation about Desronvil’s identity, along with statements by other jurors offering their perspectives on the deliberations.

“He would not interact with us and try to understand. … He had the hardest time getting off the fact that Lindsay viciously killed her children,” the jury foreperson said in an interview with NBC.

Desronvil’s extended family has been hounded by the public since the trial; they were not originally aware he was on the jury. 

“My family cannot leave the house,” his brother told the New York Post. “They are leaving notes at my mother’s house. They won’t leave us alone and we don’t know anything.”

His attorney, Edward Andrew Paltzik, said the family is in a secure location.

“Please respect his dignity, humanity, and privacy. Stay away from his home, stop calling him, and don’t even think about deciphering his location,” he said on X.

A GiveSendGo fundraising account had jumped to more than $300,000 by Friday afternoon. Paltzik said that effort was appreciated—but to avoid scams, his team intends to set up its own “authorized” fundraising account for Desronvil.