The lone holdout juror who forced a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder case has retained an attorney, one who previously represented President Donald Trump in multiple high-profile lawsuits, after enduring a wave of public attacks from his fellow jurors and Clancy’s own defense lawyer.
Attorney Edward Paltzik told Fox News Digital on Friday that he is now representing Michael P. Desronvil, the juror whose refusal to join the other eleven panelists in the Clancy case led Judge William Sullivan to declare a mistrial on Sept. 4 at Plymouth County Superior Court.
The case has drawn national attention not just for the horrifying facts, three children strangled in their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023, but for what happened after the jury deadlocked. Rather than accepting the mistrial and moving on, fellow jurors and the defense attorney publicly targeted Desronvil, raising serious questions about whether the American jury system can survive when a citizen who does his duty gets punished for it.
Lindsay Clancy, 36, faced three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of her children: Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months old. The children were discovered strangled at the family’s home. Clancy’s defense argued she was not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
The jury deliberated for roughly 36 hours over six and a half days without reaching a unanimous verdict. Breitbart reported that the defense attempted to have the holdout juror removed, appealing the matter all the way to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which denied the motion. The panel remained split 11-1.
Desronvil has since spoken publicly about his reasoning. His statement, first reported by NewsNation and confirmed by Paltzik to Fox News Digital, was direct:
“Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned.”
He also pushed back on the suggestion that he had simply refused to engage with the evidence or his fellow jurors:
“I didn’t have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence present.”
That account, of a juror who tried to participate in deliberations but was shut down, stands in sharp contrast to the narrative pushed by the jury foreperson, who claimed Desronvil refused to follow the law on reasonable doubt.
Mark Astor, a former prosecutor and behavioral health law expert, told Fox News Digital that Desronvil’s decision to hire a lawyer signals just how badly things have gone for him since the mistrial. Astor did not hold back about the source of the problem:
“The other issue, obviously, is he’s basically been attacked not just by potentially the other jurors, but by Mr. Reddington on the foot of the courthouse, since we had that mistrial declared by the judge. So, I mean, I think he feels like he needs to, you know, at least stand up for himself.”
Kevin Reddington is Clancy’s defense attorney. Fox News Digital reported that Reddington has signaled he is open to a deal and hopes the district attorney will “revisit” the case, but that openness apparently did not extend to the juror who stood in his way.
The broader fallout has been severe. The New York Post reported that Desronvil’s eleven co-jurors publicly blamed him for the mistrial, triggering a media frenzy that exposed his identity, his personal history, and his financial situation. Desronvil has since fled the area with his new wife to an undisclosed location in Northern New England amid safety concerns.
In a legal system that depends on ordinary citizens serving without fear of retaliation, that outcome should alarm everyone, regardless of what they think Lindsay Clancy deserves.
Paltzik, who built his profile representing Trump in lawsuits against The New York Times, CBS, and ABC News, has taken an aggressive public posture on Desronvil’s behalf. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Paltzik posted a statement that combined reassurance with a clear warning:
“Again, we are focused entirely on his health, safety, and well-being. There will be a time for accountability and a time for the real story of the Lindsay Clancy Trial to be told. But not right now.”
He also called Desronvil “an American Hero” and “Champion of Justice”, language that may strike some as overheated, but that reflects the attorney’s apparent strategy of reframing Desronvil from villain to victim. Paltzik said Desronvil will not be doing other media interviews at this time.
The cases where public figures face consequences for their conduct in high-profile legal proceedings have become increasingly common. But this situation is different. Desronvil is not a defendant, not a lawyer, and not an elected official. He is a private citizen who was summoned to serve.
Paltzik’s track record suggests he is not simply posturing. His work on Trump’s lawsuit against CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global, resulted in a $16 million settlement in July 2025. The ABC News lawsuit settled for $15 million. Both settlement amounts were described as going toward Trump’s future presidential library. Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times was dismissed in 2025 but has since been refiled.
Astor, the former prosecutor, framed the stakes in terms that should resonate with anyone who values constitutional order. He told Fox News Digital that Desronvil’s treatment represents a direct threat to the institution of trial by jury:
“The whole idea of the jury is sort of this sacred arena where jurors get to decide a verdict in a case. And now we’re taking what is really a sacred arena, and we’re exposing it to the public.”
That exposure is not abstract. Astor pointed to the concrete harm already done:
“I think there’s certainly some indication that his name and reputation is now being dragged through the mud.”
Consider what message this sends to the next citizen called for jury duty in a politically charged case. If you hold an unpopular position, even one grounded in the evidence, your fellow jurors may publicly identify you, the defense attorney may attack you from the courthouse steps, and the media may dig through your personal life. The system depends on jurors deliberating freely and without fear. What happened to Desronvil is the opposite of that.
Desronvil himself has claimed he was “targeted” because he is a Black Republican on a jury he alleges included left-leaning “activists,” with eight jurors reportedly voting not guilty on the first day of deliberations. That claim has not been independently verified, but if accurate, it raises troubling questions about whether the deliberation process was conducted in good faith by all parties.
The procedural history only deepens those questions. Just the News reported that Judge Sullivan initially announced he would declare a mistrial but then backed off the formal declaration to give the defense one hour to appeal, a move that itself reflected the defense’s aggressive posture toward the holdout juror throughout the process.
Lindsay Clancy is due back in Plymouth County Superior Court on Sept. 29 for a status hearing. Plymouth County prosecutors are weighing whether to retry her. Clancy’s defense team has raised the prospect of resolving the case without a second jury trial, a possibility that, if pursued, would render the entire ordeal Desronvil has endured even more pointless.
Paltzik, meanwhile, has been busy. He is also representing three friends of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who went missing July 4 after a boat trip to Horn Island, a barrier island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. A National Parks Service ranger found Wells’ remains on the island’s northwestern tip on July 6. Paltzik and Mississippi-based attorney Tyler Cox issued a joint statement to Fox News Digital defending the three friends, Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour, against what they called false allegations spread by social media influencers.
In that statement, Paltzik and Cox made their approach clear: “Starting today, those who wish to continue trafficking in lies about these Good Ocean Springs People will be held accountable to the maximum extent of the law.”
The pattern is consistent. Paltzik takes on clients he views as wrongly targeted by public mobs, whether that mob is driven by media, social media, or institutional actors. In Desronvil’s case, the mob included the very people who sat beside him in the jury box.
The American legal system has seen no shortage of dramatic courtroom developments in recent months. But the Clancy mistrial fallout stands apart because the person under attack did nothing wrong by any legal standard. He served. He deliberated. He held a position the evidence supported, in his judgment. And for that, he has been driven from his home.
Astor summed up the situation plainly: “I think it’s a terrible thing that we’re having to see this.”
In a system built on the promise that citizens can render honest verdicts without fear, the treatment of high-profile cases increasingly tests that promise. The open questions in the Clancy case, what exactly Reddington said, what the other jurors disclosed, and whether any of it crossed a legal line, remain unanswered. Paltzik has promised accountability. Whether courts or the public deliver it is another matter.
When a juror needs a lawyer just for doing his job, the system has a problem that no verdict can fix.
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