Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making headlines with an offer he just made to the “holdout” juror in the Lindsay Clancy case.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is offering what he called “asylum” to the lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial after new reporting revealed that the man had previously faced domestic-violence allegations and was under an active restraining order while serving on the jury.
DeSantis accused NBC10 Boston of attempting to smear the unidentified juror after the station reported on his legal history Friday.
“A man objected to allowing a woman to kill her three young kids and get away with it, so NBC is trying to smear that juror, whose identity should be protected,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“If the juror is being harassed, Florida will provide asylum — I’m sure he’d be welcomed and appreciated.”
DeSantis was using the term “asylum” rhetorically. The juror is an American resident and would not need immigration asylum to relocate to Florida.
The comments came one week after a Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in Clancy’s closely watched triple-murder case.
Clancy, 36, has acknowledged strangling her children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — inside the family’s Duxbury home in January 2023.
Her defense argued that she was not criminally responsible because she was suffering from severe mental illness, including postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors maintained that she understood what she was doing and knew it was wrong.
After seven days of deliberations, the jury remained deadlocked, prompting Judge William Sullivan to declare a mistrial Sept. 4.
Several jurors later said publicly that the final vote was 11-1, with the unidentified male juror refusing to join the majority in finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jury foreperson Roni Carlson said the holdout at one point acknowledged having reasonable doubt but still refused to vote for an acquittal based on lack of criminal responsibility.
Other jurors also criticized his behavior during deliberations and said he remained unwilling to reconsider his position.
Attention then shifted to the juror himself.
NBC10 Boston reported that court records showed he had been charged in 2021 in connection with an alleged assault on his then-wife. That case was later dismissed.
The station also found that the juror’s nephew had obtained a restraining order against him following another alleged confrontation. That order reportedly remained active while the Clancy trial was underway.
NBC10 also reported that the man was involved in an eviction case over unpaid rent.
The reporting raised questions about whether any of those issues were disclosed during jury selection and whether they could have affected his eligibility to serve.
There has been no judicial finding that the juror committed misconduct during the trial merely because of his personal legal history.
DeSantis nevertheless portrayed the coverage as an attack on a juror whose view differed from the other 11 members of the panel.
He has previously criticized the Clancy proceedings and argued publicly that the mother should be held criminally responsible for killing her children.
The juror’s identity remains protected by the court, although several fellow jurors have spoken publicly about the deliberations.
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, unsuccessfully asked Sullivan during deliberations to remove the holdout juror, arguing that he was failing to follow the court’s instructions. The defense also sought emergency intervention from Massachusetts’ highest court, which declined to step in before the mistrial.
The case remains unresolved.
Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will retry Clancy. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Clancy remains in custody at a state psychiatric facility.
Meanwhile, the scrutiny surrounding the holdout juror has continued to grow, turning a private jury-room dispute into a national controversy over the mistrial, the juror-selection process and how much public attention an individual juror should face after refusing to join an 11-person majority.
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