Updated

Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 12

DeSantis Offers Florida Asylum to 1 Clancy Holdout Juror as Mistrial Leaves Retrial Unclear

Updated

Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 12

DeSantis Offers Florida Asylum to 1 Clancy Holdout Juror as Mistrial Leaves Retrial Unclear

Q: Did the lone holdout juror hide a dark past to intentionally force a mistrial in this tragic case?

There is no verified evidence that the lone holdout juror intentionally hid a “dark past” in order to force a mistrial. What is known is narrower and serious enough on its own. NBC10 Boston reported that the juror had a 2021 domestic assault charge that was later dismissed, an active restraining order involving his nephew, and a pending eviction. Legal analysts said those issues should have appeared on a Massachusetts juror questionnaire if answered fully and truthfully. But the questionnaire has not been made public, and reporting so far has not established whether he actually concealed anything, whether the court knew, or whether either side waived objections during jury selection. There is also no public proof that the juror joined the panel with a plan to derail the case. The mistrial resulted from an 11-1 deadlock after lengthy deliberations. Other jurors have accused him of refusing to follow the judge’s reasonable-doubt instruction and of behaving in troubling ways during deliberations, including allegedly reenacting aspects of the killings. Those accounts raise questions about his conduct and fitness to serve, but they are still one-sided because the holdout juror has not publicly responded. The central unresolved issue is procedural: whether the juror was properly vetted and whether any answers he gave under oath were false. If he omitted required information, that could become a separate legal matter. It does not, by itself, prove he engineered the mistrial.

3 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 12

Ron DeSantis said Florida would offer “asylum” to the lone juror who blocked Lindsay Clancy’s acquittal, accusing NBC10 Boston of smearing him after reporting on a dismissed 2021 domestic-assault charge.
The unidentified juror was the sole vote against finding Clancy not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, splitting the panel 11-1 after a seven-week Massachusetts trial and forcing a mistrial.
Other jurors said the holdout was a Black man in his 30s; DeSantis argued his identity should be protected and said Florida would help if he was being harassed.
Clancy admitted killing her three children—Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months—but her defense said postpartum psychosis drove the killings, while prosecutors said she understood her actions.