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Michael P. Desronvil: Everything We Know About the Lindsay Clancy Juror

Writer: Nd® COMMUNITY
Nd® COMMUNITY
5 minutes ago
5 min read

Published September 21, 2026 at 7:26 AM EDT


Clancy juror Michael Desronvil – via Facebook


BRIDGEWATER, MA —Michael P. Desronvil, 48, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is the lone holdout juror whose refusal to join an acquittal on insanity grounds left the Lindsay Clancy jury deadlocked and led to a mistrial. He is Black and, by his own account, a Republican.

The trial. Clancy pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the January 2023 deaths of her children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. She admitted the killings, so the question for jurors was criminal responsibility. The judge declared a mistrial on Sept. 4 after about six weeks of trial and seven days of deliberations.


Who he is.


  • Faith and politics: "Fugitive TV" host Ray Marcel described Desronvil as Catholic and said he believes he is being targeted because he is a Black Republican with conservative values.

  • Conservative outlets say he comes from a Haitian immigrant family, but they differ on whether he immigrated himself.

  • RT, citing his attorney, calls him a committed Christian and a supporter of President Trump. American Thinker calls him a "registered" Republican but cites no voter record.

  • Family: He and his then-wife divorced after a 2021 incident, and police reported he was holding an infant when they arrived. His attorney has since shared photos with the New York Post of him with a newborn daughter. Reports do not say how old the earlier child is, whether there are other children, who the newborn's mother is, or his current marital status. His brother told the Globe he believes Desronvil was qualified to serve.

  • Work: Reports do not say what he does for a living.


The jury room.


  • The split: Five jurors said the jury voted 11-1 for not criminally responsible. Juror Paula Devlin said the count once stood at 10-2. Marcel said Desronvil told him the opening positions were eight for not guilty, two for guilty and two undecided, and that another guilty vote "caved in at the last moment." That account has not been verified.

  • Foreperson: Foreperson Roni Carlson said he claimed reasonable doubt but would not acquit, and she sent the judge a note saying he was not following the reasonable-doubt instruction. He denies this.

  • Juror allegation: Juror Nick Dargie told ABC News that Desronvil behaved in a "disgusting" way, including acting out a killing with resistance bands on a water bottle. [Unverified] We found no response from Desronvil.

  • Judge's response: Judge William Sullivan declined the defense's request to remove him, questioned each juror individually and repeated the reasonable-doubt instruction. He called discharging a deliberating juror a sensitive step fraught with potential error.

  • Defense follow-up: Defense attorney Kevin Reddington appealed to a single justice of the state's highest court and has since asked a judge to acquit Clancy before any retrial.

  • Reports differ on how many times the jury signaled deadlock: two notes, three, or four.



His account. In a statement, Desronvil said he "didn't have any doubts," that he kept being cut off, and that the evidence showed Clancy knew what she was doing and planned it. Marcel also said Desronvil called some fellow jurors "activists" and said he served on a panel dominated by Democrats. We found no reporting on the other jurors' politics.


Legal history.


  • 2021 arrest: He was arrested in September 2021 on a domestic assault and battery charge after a 911 call from his then-13-year-old nephew. Police reported his then-wife said he grabbed her by the throat and threw her into a dresser. He pleaded not guilty. The charge was dismissed after she said she did not want to testify. He was never convicted.

  • Restraining order: A Brockton District Court judge issued a civil order in August 2025 after finding a risk of immediate abuse toward his teenage nephew. It required no contact and surrender of firearms, and it stayed active until Aug. 11, 2026, during the trial's third week. The nephew's affidavit alleged Desronvil shoved him to the floor and punched him. We found no reported criminal charge from that incident.

  • Eviction: His landlord says he stopped paying rent in March, and won a judgment of more than $12,600 while the jury was deliberating. He missed his own court date in early August, and the eviction is proceeding.

  • The questionnaire: It asks about arrests, charges and court orders for the juror or household and family members, and it warns that willful misrepresentation is a crime punishable by a fine of up to $2,000. He told Fugitive TV he did not lie and disclosed a past arrest when he was selected. We did not see whether he addressed the restraining order, and his answers have not been made public.

  • Experts: A former Suffolk district attorney said most judges would have removed him for cause. A retired judge said a dismissed charge or past civil order doesn't bar service and that questionnaires are confusing. A BU law professor said the revelations bolster Clancy's case against a retrial. Devlin said he should have been excluded. The district attorney declined to comment on jury selection.


Picture of Michael P. Desronvil with his daughter
Picture of Michael P. Desronvil with his daughter

Threats, support and politics.


  • Threats and safety: His attorney, Edward Paltzik, says he is safe at an undisclosed location in a rural area of Northern New England. Paltzik says he faced death threats, doxxing and harassment.

  • Fundraiser: A GiveSendGo fundraiser called "Stand With The Juror" passed $340,000 by Saturday after collecting over $200,000 before it was verified. It passed $350,000 on Sunday. Paltzik had warned people about unverified fundraisers. One outlet mentions a separate GoFundMe.

  • Political reaction: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered him "asylum" and accused the media of running a smear campaign. Some conservative pundits call him a hero, and opinion has split partly along political lines.

  • Paltzik: Paltzik's past clients include Donald Trump and Martin Shkreli.


What we don't know. How he answered the questionnaire, whether the restraining order was disclosed, and whether any of this affects a retrial. Also unresolved are his current marital status, his other children, his occupation, and the accuracy of his claims about the jury's politics and the vote count.


What's next. The DA has not said whether he will retry Clancy. If he reduces the charges to second-degree murder, she could waive a jury. A hearing on Sept. 29 will set a trial date.


Sources


 
 
 

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